17/11/2017 BBC Business Live

Hello there.

This is Business Live from BBC News

with Alice Baxter and Ben Bland.

Tesla has launched its first

electric truck that can accelerate

to 60 miles per hour

in just five seconds.

Live from London, that's our top

story on Friday, 17th November.

Yes, Tesla unleashes the Beast.

But will the electric truck

transform road transport,

or prove too heavy a load

for the company?

Plus, tax relief for President Trump

- as his $1.5 trillion reform plan

clears the House of Representatives.

But it could be short-lived

as the debate moves to the Senate.

And global stocks rebounding

at the end of the week as investors

snapped up bargains after the recent

sell-off, encouraged

by solid quarterly earnings

reports on Wall Street.

And we'll be getting

the Inside Track on Donald Trump's

tax plans, plus what is happening

in Saudi Arabia with our business

editor, Simon Jack.

And it's being reported that

scientists have sent a secret

message to reach alien life

elsewhere in the universe.

Today we want to know -

what would you ask or say to any

extra-terrestrials out there?

Just use the hashtag BBCBizLive.

Du Toit in and let us know you're

out of the world responses.

We start in California,

where in the last few hours

electric car maker Tesla has

unveiled its latest venture.

Founder Elon Musk hopes to take

on the road transport business

as he has the car industry -

with an electric powered truck

called the Tesla Semi.

Dave Lee was at the launch.

This is the new Tesla semi.

It will travel 500 miles

on a single charge

and Elon Musk thinks it will make

electric the new king of the road.

The thing that looks

like it's not moving...

Is a diesel truck.

But he has been under

a lot of pressure

lately.

His company isn't yet making cars

quickly enough to meet demand

and so this new truck

could be another distraction

for the man who also

dabbles in space travel.

Tesla's definitely

taking some serious

issues on the manufacturing side.

Model 3 delivery is measured in

hundreds when they're supposed to be

producing thousands every week.

That is a huge issue.

But the truck wasn't to be the only

new vehicle on show here

tonight.

So the Tesla fans that came

here certainly expected to see a

lorry, what they weren't expecting

to see was a new Roadster and that

got this crowd excited.

So it turns out there was some

cargo in the truck...

For fans an exciting One More Thing,

but for Tesla's investors it is just

one more thing.

Anna-Marie Baisden, Head of Autos

at BMI Research, is with me.

The first thing you think, as trucks

go, that is pretty good-looking. It

is an odd description, but it is

very aesthetically well-designed.

Absolutely, and this is what Tesla

has been doing all along, making

elective products attractive in

their own right, you are not just

buying them for the alternative

fuel, you are buying them because

they are attractive products.

But do

you think those who it is targeted

at, big haulage companies, will be

swayed by that, or will they focus

on the cost? The reports are the

battery alone will cost $100,000.

Absolutely, you target business very

differently to consumers. Consumers

you can win over with design and

aesthetics, but it is about the

bottom line for haulage companies,

and the cost is definitely a top

priority.

The other aspect is the

range, how far these trucks can

travel, and it was a surprise,

wasn't it?

Yes, 500 miles on a

single charge, that was definitely a

surprise, and a positive one,

because that is something else you

want to take into account if you are

running a haulage business.

And the

other thing Tesla has to be very

aware of is competition. It was once

the only, or one of the big names in

the field, it still is, but

competition is snapping at its

heels. You have Volvo launching a

driverless truck in Beijing, the

market is so competitive now. They

have just got to keep innovating,

and quickly.

Absolutely, and you

have some of the real big names in

the Class 8 segment, like Daimler,

they have their models out there,

and if anything it could be a little

late to the electrification of

commercial vehicles, which is quite

unusual for them.

What about the

infrastructure in place to

facilitate the launch of these sorts

of vehicles? That is one of the

biggest stumbling blocks.

Again, and

that is more of a concern to fleet

drivers than commuters, because they

need to travel long distances in a

certain amount of time, so that is a

big concern to them.

Really good to

talk to you, thank you very much for

joining us.

Let's take a look at some of

the other stories making the news.

There have been more takeover

approaches for media giant

21st Century Fox.

According to reports Comcast,

owner of NBC Universal

and the biggest cable TV operator

in the US - has expressed

interest in buying assets,

as has Verizon Communications.

Last week it emerged that

Walt Disney had held talks with Fox.

Media companies are looking

at mergers as more people ditch

cable in favour of streaming

services like Netflix.

Gap shares jumped

nearly 8% after-hours.

The US clothing retailer

raised its outlook for 2017 profit

and reported same-store sales ahead

of analysts' expectations.

The company has been investing

to upgrade its offering

for customers, and it's paying off.

And German industrial group Siemens

has announced plans to cut around

6,900 jobs worldwide -

mostly in its fossil fuels division.

It said global demand

for large turbines produced

by its power and gas division

had fallen dramatically.

Half of the jobs will be lost

in Germany, while 1,100 will go

in the rest of Europe and 1,800

in the US.

Don't forget there's always plenty

of business News updated throughout

the day on our website, on the

Business Live page. On there right

now, Nissan executives are likely to

return a part of their pay over the

quality-control scandal. Shares in

Nissan have risen on that news. You

can read more about that as I say

the website. Always lots on the

website.

Let's go to India now -

and credit ratings agency Moody's

has given Prime Minister Modi

a major boost.

It has upgraded India's

sovereign rating for

the first time in 14 years -

citing the government's continued

progress in economic reform.

That has sent the rupee and Indian

stocks sharply higher

Let's cross live now for more on

this. Watmore have you got?

Well,

Moody is has cited the structural

and economic reforms that have been

initiated by Prime Minister Modi's

government in the last few years,

the new national goods and services

stacks, and they have also announced

recently that they will be in jet to

fresh capital in public owned banks

which have been struggling due to

bad debts, and that has been having

a severe impact on the economy. Last

year they had also cracked down on

the black economy, black money,

rather, by banning the illegal

currency that was in circulation. So

Moody is has appreciated the steps

and say it will benefit the economy

in the long run, so they are calling

this an early Christmas gift from

Prime Minister Modi, considering the

economy had slowed down due to these

measures in the last few months.

Thank you. So India's stock market

and currency getting an early

Christmas gift. Let's stay in the

region now.

Other Asian shares clawed back most

of their weekly loss after rising

firmly on Friday on some strong

Wall Street earnings and a step

Also the dollar fell after

the Wall Street Journal reported

So in Japan, the Nikkei gained 0.2%

extending its recovery

from a near three-week intraday low

hit on Thursday.

But it's still down 1.3%

for the week, snapping

its nine-week gaining streak.

Here in Europe, stocks

are mixed at the open.

The largest influence on markets all

around the globe today is President

Trump's plans for a shake-up of the

US tax system taking a step forward

on Thursday.

He says they will boost the US

economy - but critics

on the Democrat side call them

a give-away to big

business and the wealthy.

Samira Hussain has the details.

Taxes - Americans don't like paying

them and most agree that the tax

system is broken, but fixing it,

well, that ain't easy.

The President says he wants

a tax system that's so

easy you could file

it on a postcard.

Now the Republican Party has control

of the US Congress and that

means they could pass a new tax plan

with just a simple majority.

If there's anything that unifies

Republicans, it is tax reform.

We have been looking

for the opportunity to do this

literally for years.

The problem?

Republicans can't even

agree on a tax plan

amongst themselves.

Law-makers want to cut the number of

tax brackets to

four and cut back just how much

people can write off

for having a mortgage.

The Senate plan removes the tax

Americans pay if they don't

buy health insurance, but that means

some 13 million Americans could end

up without any coverage and that

plan also makes cuts to the

corporate tax rate permanent.

But tax relief for individuals,

well, that's just temporary.

So what do they do now?

Well, Republicans in the House

and Senate will just have

to combine their two plans,

but if the last few months are any

indication, well,

that won't be easy.

That was Samir Hussein in New York.

Joining us is Lucy MacDonald,

Chief Investment Officer,

Global Equities, Allianz Global

Investors.

A big week the US earnings, in

particular what we could call the

dinosaurs of the stock indices.

There were two yesterday which we

knew would classify as dinosaurs,

Cisco and Walmart, and they both

came through with numbers

better-than-expected. Cisco has not

really grown its top line for a

couple of years, and showed some

movement in the top line, we are

only talking low single-digit is,

but even so. And that was greeted

well. And then Walmart as well, and

the rest of the retail sector has

been under pressure from Amazon. So

it has been a bit of an electric

kettle to get some of the other

retailers to move their businesses

online more. That seems to be

providing some progress.

And moving

away from dinosaurs, some other big

news this week coming out of Norway,

trying to move their alliance away

from oil and gas.

They have said

that they will divest from the 6% of

their portfolio, their wealth

portfolio, probably next year. And

it is significant. For them, it is

partly because their whole economy

is very reliant on oil and gas, but

I think also underlying it, it is

that hole bogey of stranded assets,

and the value of these assets, which

had been put really on the back

burner for the last few months. So I

think it will probably put a little

bit of a stop to that.

We will come

back and talk to you about the

business papers later in the show.

See you later.

Still to come:

Will the US Senate agree

to Donald Trump's tax plans?

Plus, what is happening

in Saudi Arabia?

That's all with our business

editor, Simon Jack.

You're with Business

Live from BBC News.

The building society Nationwide has

posted its latest results

and profits are down for the second

period in a row.

Our business correspondent

Theo Leggett joins us

from the business newsroom

with the details.

What do these figures look like TU?

At first glance, they don't look

great. The second six months in a

row in which profits have fallen,

underlying pre-tax profits dropping

to £508 million from £615 million a

year ago. But you have to bear a

couple of things in mind. The

figures for a year ago were

flattered by a 100 year pounds bonus

from selling off a stake in Visa

Europe. Take that out, and in fact

the company made a profit this time

round. Also, nationwide which is a

mutual building society, it started

paying extra money into its

employees' pension fund, and it also

had to set aside a little bit of

money for bad loans. So overall it

is not that bad, these are pretty

healthy figures.

So could there be

trouble ahead for nationwide?

That

is what nationwide is warning, yes.

It says that there is a great deal

of competition in the mortgage

market, which there is, and

nationwide is the country's

second-largest mortgage provider.

Funding costs are low because of low

interest rates, but margins are low

as well, what nationwide is saying

is that with the competition that is

coming up ahead, it could feel some

pain. Declining consumer confidence

may hit lending later in the year.

That is according to the chief

executive, nationwide remains

financially secure and in very good

shape.

CEO, for now, thank you very

much.

Is plenty more on the web page. The

British Prime Minister is in Sweden

meeting Donald Tusk. She will try to

provide more clarity about how the

UK intends to settle any outstanding

payments are due before they begin

making progress on negotiations

about a post-Brexit trade deal. We

will be following developments

there. For the latest log on to the

web-site.

You're watching Business Live.

Our top story: Tesla has

launched its first electric truck

that can accelerate to 60 miles

per hour in just five seconds.

A quick look at how

markets are faring.

A mixed picture here in Europe. That

is after a strong session in Asia on

the back of some good quarterly

earnings out from Wall Street.

And now let's get the Inside Track

on the week's top business stories,

Simon Jack our Business Editor

is here to talk about changes to US

tax policy and why the Saudi

government is demanding up to 70%

of rich detainees' wealth

in return for their freedom.

Donald Trump could have a rocky road

ahead in the Senate.

This is a major

plank of Donald Trump's election

campaign, everyone agrees the tax

system is too complicated and we

haven't had a tax overhaul since

1986 under Reagan. You have two

different plans, one in the House of

Representatives and one in the

Senate. On the corporate side they

say we will cut corporate tax from

35 to 20%. You would think big

business would think this is

fantastic, but the system is so come

my Kated that -- complicated that

there are all sorts of exemptions

and you can deduct interest

payments, or other deductions for

individuals and state taxes. It is a

big mess. A lot of people say the

simplification is great, but I don't

know where I stand. What I would say

is is that the costing of this, tax

cuts cost money and this will cost

about one and a half trillion

dollars. US debt is already 20

trillion plus. You remember back in

the 80s when Reagan did a tax cut,

it ballooned the deficit. The idea

if people make more money, you

increase the tax take.

Are you

surprised by the reaction from

business, perhaps less surprising is

the reaction from the Democrats

calling it a giveaway to the

wealthy.

Lobbying groups for big

business spend millions trying to

get concessions. All their plans and

road map of how to pay less tax will

go up in the air. The over all

picture probably looks good for

multinationals. That is one of the

problems the Democrats say it is a

tax cut for the rich. There are some

tax cuts for individuals and the

middle class. But some are temporary

and some say within ten years middle

class family will pay more and rich

people will be paying less.

I want

to turn to what is has beening in

Saudi Arabia and a crackdown on

corruption and consolidation of the

monarchy's power, demanding 70% of

these rich detainees' wealth in

return for freedom.

That is an

unconfirmed number. I spoke a

business person who described it as

a good old faked shake down -- old

fashioned shake down, in case you

need a reminder of who the boss it.

The Saudi Arabia budget is running a

deficit and that never happens and

over the years many people have done

well, particularly in the good old

days when oil was over $100 a

barrel. The oil price has been low

and they have a generous state

sponsored welfare scheme and a

growing population. There is a panic

there. They're trying to move like a

whirlwind to reform the economy and

they need money fast and these

people have plenty of it and some of

biggest figures in international

business, a big shareholder in City

group. Some are sleeping on the

floor of Ritz. They can't send them

to prison. That would be too

disruptive, but you have got money,

we need money, I'm the boss and

perhaps when the new king takes

over, the new reveal needs money and

they will knock on the richest

people in the country to get it. A

gold old fashioned shake down.

In

the UK, we have had reports out this

week on the state of inflation and

the growth, what did you make of it

all?

Well, on the inflation, it was

3%. Which is above target. The Bank

of England would like to see it at

2%. It is above how much wages are

going up which is 2.2%. Although we

have economic and wage growth, in

real terms people are getting

poorer. That isn't a happy place for

government to be in and we have the

budget next week. It is an important

part of where the budget will land

next week. The growth figures, there

is some growth, but not spectacular.

People are saying it looks softer. I

think we are near the peak of

inflation, because after the

referendum, sterling fell and all

imports are more expensive and we

import more than we export. Some of

the effects are filtering out. That

was over a year ago and that big

increase is working its way through

the system. We could be at or near

the peak of the inflation cycle

here.

Thank you. All highs on Philip

Hammond next week. Have a good

weekend.

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.

We have the latest details from the

BBC's team around the world. And we

want to hear from you too. Get

involved on the BBC Business Live

web page. On Twitter we are at BBC

Business and we are on Facebook.

Were going to talk about other

stories. The report that scientists

have been sending out a secret

message to try and reach life in

other parts of universe. They don't

expect a reply for at least 25

years. We have been asking for your

tweets, what message would you send

and what question would you ask.

Quite a range of responses.

We have

had a lot of responses.

Bob says

call in for a cup of tea and

biscuit. Another say, just the one

word - help.

Jane said, what is the

answer to everything.

Karen - get me

out of here.

And hey Mr Spaceman

would you take me along for a ride?

I think that is a song lyric. Lucy,

what would you say to extra

terrestrial.

I ask if wanted any of

our debt.

Enough of that. Let's talk

about business news back here on

earth. The FT if I can find it,

reporting that come cast and High

Horizon have approached 21st Century

fox to buy its assets.

They have

consolidation and integration in the

entertainment industry as a result

of the disruption from Netflix. That

is ongoing and will continue. It is

a valid response when you get this

sort of disruptive activity and you

have consolidation of Murdoch assets

and the thoughts they may be

thinking about going private. So

those are the two things which have

happening. It is following on from

Disney, the approach we have had. So

this is going to run and run.

This

is a sign of the times, this shift

in our viewing habits and people

wanting to end their cable contracts

and preferring to stream online.

Yes

it is a change driven by technology

and the response is to strengthen

their position either vertically or

in this case horizontal of getting

them all together.

We saw

discussions with Disney expressing

an interest, if a giant like Disney

is looking at it, these are big

moves?

Yes and they're very large

companies, because they're very old

companies and also they're led by in

many cases... Men in their 70s and

80s and there is an end of era feel.

End of a programme feel, end of a

week feel. Lucy Macdonald thank you,

have a lovely weekend. We have so

many tweets, we will look through

them. Thanks for watching and have a

great weekend. See you again soon.