13/12/2017 BBC Business Live

you agree or is Facebook

right to defend itself?

Send your comments

to hashtag BBCBizLive.

Lots of comments from you already.

So keep them coming in.

Is Facebook ripping society apart?

Facebook says no. Many of you

disagree. We will talk about that

later.

The World's most

powerful Central Bank -

the US Federal Reserve -

will today announce if it plans

on raising interest rates

for the world's biggest economy.

Any rise will be seen

as an endorsement of not only

the strength of the American

economy, but also the global

economy.

This is ten years on from

the financial crisis.

There have been three rises

since December 2016 and markets

are already factoring

in another rise later.

US economic growth has hit

an annualised rate of more than 3%

in the past two quarters,

while the unemployment rate

in the US is at its

lowest since 2000.

US jobs growth was better

than expected in November

with the number of new jobs rising

by 228,000 with the unemployment

rate holding steady at 4.1%.

And in October, the IMF

upped its forecast for the global

economy and now predicts growth

of 3.6% this year and 3.7% in 2018.

We're joined by Karen Ward,

Chief Strategist, JP

Morgan Asset Management.

Hello Karen.

Good morning.

I am

assuming that we are going to see a

rate rise today. Is this the right

medicine?

That's right today. It is

largely expected to see another

quarter point increase. The question

really is what they tell us about

next year and how many more they

think are in the pipeline.

So what

do you think they will say and let's

remember that Jerome Powell takes

over in February from Janet Yelland

so a New Year with a new boss?

That's right. We have heard a lot

from him in recent months and it

doesn't sound like that's going to

deliver many changes at the Fed in

the terms of their thinking or the

policy. The question is about tax

reform and what that is going to

deliver and if it passes and how

much it will boost the economy and

how monetary policy fits into the

shift into fiscal policy.

The news

overnight about Alabama, it might be

more difficult for the Trump

administration to get through the

tax reform in the way that they

wanted at least?

Exactly right. So

the marredin is 49-51 so that does

add to the uncertainty of what that

final tax package could look like

and what a stimulus it will be.

So

what will be on the mind do you

think of the Fed in 2018? Given the

year we have had with a strong surge

on Wall Street and good steady

economic growth in the US. What are

we looking like in 2018?

Not just

the Fed, but all the central banks

are walking this difficult balance

at the moment of trying to continue

to foster the recovery, generate a

little bit more inflation. If

anything, wage growth is still a

little bit low in the US as it is in

most of the developed world. So that

suggests, you know, keep some

stimulus in the pipeline. But at the

same time, they are not wanting to

stoke up any asset bubbles, you

know, make the mistakes of the 2000s

when at the peak of the crisis in

2007, they were criticised for doing

too little, too late. So that's the

difficult balance they will be

weighing up. That still points this

them being fairly cautious and

fairly gradual, but continuing to

get to some sort of normal rate over

the course of the next two years.

What is the normal rate? In

textbooks it says it should be

around 4%, but what is the normal

now? Is there a new normal?

It's the

big debate. A lot of the things that

made us think that it was a lot

lower were factors like very low

productivity, perhaps a global

savings glut still continuing, some

of those signs look a little bit

better. We do see trade picking up.

We see investment picking up. That

could maybe help with productivity.

So maybe that old concept of normal

hasn't completely gone away.

Karen,

thank you very much indeed. The

chief strategist of JP Morgan Asset

Management. It is a story we will be

watching throughout the day. Of

course, it is affecting markets as

they trade in anticipation really.

We will talk more about that a

little later.

Let's take a look at some of

the other stories making the news.

The Financial Times reports that

Walt Disney is close to confirming

a deal to buy 21st Century Fox's

entertainment business

for around $60 billion.

The sale would include the 20th

Century Fox film studio and the Sky

and Star satellite broadcasters

in the UK, Europe and Asia.

Facebook has responded

to a former executive

who said the social network

and other services like it,

were "ripping society apart".

Chamath Palihapitiya made

the comments last month

but what he said only hit

the headlines on Monday.

Facebook said the company

was different no to when he had

worked there six years ago

and "as we have grown

we have realised how our

responsibilities have grown too."

That's our Twitter question today.

Send in your xhevenlts

-- comments.

Ryanair passengers face disruption

to their Christmas travel plans

after pilots and crew announced

industrial action in a bid

to win union recognition

and better conditions.

In Ireland, pilots based

in Dublin will strike for one

day on 20th December.

Meanwhile Ryanair pilots and cabin

crew in Italy are to strike for four

hours on 15th December.

The American computer data storage

company Western Digital has

settled its long running legal

dispute with Toshiba.

The dispute could have prevented

the $18 billion sale of Toshiba's

prized memory chip unit.

Monica Miller is following this from

our Asia Business Hub in Singapore.

Finally there could be an end in

sight?

Yes. It has been an ugly,

bitter divorce. Yes, it's finally

over. Both Toshiba and Western

Digital have agreed to resolve

disputes which now paves the way for

the sale f Toshiba of's $18 billion

unit. The global investment firm has

partnered with South Korea's SK

Hynec. The legal battle started this

year. It was Toshiba after said it

would have to sell the chip dftion

in order to recover big losses it

had accrued. The US partner, Western

Digital, threatened to block the

sale, but now it's over, Western

Digital can now pursue other

pursuits including investing in a

new product line of memory chips.

Toshiba Can shore up its balance

sheets by the end of the fiscal year

in March and avoid being delisted on

the Tokyo stock exchange.

Monica, thank you. Relief all-round

especially for all of those who have

had to talk about it for so long.

Markets in the US seeing

new record highs last night,

on reports that policy-makers

could push through that tax deal

which would see the US corporate tax

rate cut to 21% next year.

It's not yet a done deal

yet, but was enough

to push markets higher.

Up 0.5% yesterday.

But that's not feeding through to

this morning's open in Europe.

There are a lot of questions

that need answers as far

as policy is concerned.

We might get some answers

from today's Fed meeting

as well as tomorrow's

Bank of England and European

Central Bank rate meetings.

In the UK, they'll be looking

closely at what yesterday's rise

in inflation data means,

hitting 3.1% in November,

the highest level in five years.

Not welcome news for consumers.

We will get an update on employment.

It is expected to fall to 4.3%, that

would be a 42 year low.

More on that in a moment,

but first Samira has

the details about what's ahead

on Wall Street today.

Many will be watching what happens

with the US Federal Reserve

at the end of their two-day meeting,

but taxes will also be

the focus on Wednesday.

US President Donald Trump

will deliver a speech on the plan

to overhaul the American tax code.

And this comes on the same day

lawmakers in Washington will host

the one and only open conference

on tax legislation.

Republicans are planning

to have a final agreement nailed

down by the end of this week.

And finally, the US Labor Department

will release data on consumer

prices for November.

The low rate of inflation has been

a persistent economic

mystery in recent months,

as falling unemployment and rising

economic growth have

failed to push up prices.

But new figures on Wednesday

will shed light on where

we are with inflation,

and if it gets any closer

to the Fed's 2% target.

That was Samira, of course.

Joining us now is Tom Stevenson,

Investment Director

at Fidelity International.

We have talked about markets and

what's going on. From your point of

view, is it one game in town and

that's the Fed?

It is one game in

town and that's central banks. Lots

of central banks getting their final

meetings of the year out of the way

before the holidays start. I mean,

here in the UK, we've got an

interesting meeting tomorrow, you

mentioned it, Ben, we've had

inflation figures which were pretty

high. Today we're going to get

unemployment data which will show a

40 year low for unemployment, but

the important thing is that wage

growth is not there. So I think

that's what the bank will be looking

at. It will say, well, inflation is

high, wage growth is low. It will

stifle the economy. There is no

incentive for us to raise interest

rates in the UK unlike will the US.

I think that gap is going to widen

between the US and the UK.

How

concerned are you as far as the UK

economy is concerned. There is a lot

of doom sayers about the situation

at the moment?

Well, it is a mixed

bag actually. Growth is low, but it

is positive. I think the gap between

wage growth and inflation is a real

problem for the consumer side of the

economy and of course, that's a big,

and important part of the UK economy

and of course, you know, hanging

over everything is the uncertainty

of the Brexit negotiations. You

know, so we had some good news last

week, you know, we maybe edging

towards a deal, but for the next

year, at least, there is going to be

a lot of uncertainty.

Tom, a quick

word on oil. It is a long time since

we've spoken about oil. $65 for

Brent, up 2.4% and that's because of

the explosion?

Yes, well, there are

two things. There is the shutdown of

the Fortes pipeline which caused a

short-term spike, the direction of

travel for oil is upwards. There is

discipline from Opec and Russia in

terms of curbing production. That's

keeping a floor on the oil price and

I think that's likely to continue. I

think that oil will stay in the $60

to $70 range.

You say it is a while

since you talked about oil. We

talked about it yesterday! Ben

wasn't listening. We have got that

story we just talked about, we had

other issues regards with supply

from gas from Italy to Russia. Gas

exports in Britain's North Sea, they

will be halted until January, 2nd

due to the shutdown of the Fortes

pipeline. Knock on effect with gas

exports affected by this as well.

Which, of course, is a critical time

of year with it being winter, our

demand for energy is going up at

this time of year. So, interesting

to keep an eye on that.

It shows how

vulnerable we are to some things

like that. A little crack in the

pipeline can have such an impact on

prices. We will have more for you

later.

Still to come:

It's a bugs life.

We speak to the man who is using

insects to make animal feed -

freeing up crops for humans to eat.

You're with Business

Live from BBC News.

First, let's talk about Dixons

Carphone.

Pre-tax profits at the tech

retailer have slumped more

than 60% in the six months

to the end of October.

It's warned that the mobile phone

market remains "challenging",

with customers hanging

onto handsets for longer.

Let's speak to Eleanor Parr,

a retail analyst at GlobalData.

It is a familiar tale, we have heard

from the boss of Dixons Carphone

that people just aren't changing

their technology as quickly as they

used to.

Absolutely. In times of

austerity that we are going through

at the moment, people just can't

afford to upgrade their mobile

phones. There has also been an

indication that consumers are less

inclined to upgrade their phones,

iPhone in numeric Severn, 6, numeric

, people are not seeing the

difference. But there is a

difference with the very new iPhone

by.

And the less money that they are

making when they go overseas with

the phone, because with the roaming

charges being knocked down,

thankfully and EU wider decision,

but it hits Dixons.

Yes they said

this could cost them up to £40

million.

What we talk about

consumers having less money in their

pocket, we're talking about

inflation rising quickly, it is that

familiar tale again, people just

don't have the money right now.

Yes,

electrical is has been very hard hit

by this. Retailers have seen big

increases in cost prices, and

although some has been passed to the

customer, retailers themselves have

had to take a hit.

Eleanor, thank

you very much. Digging deep into the

Dixons Carphone figures that were

out early today. It is that time of

year. Google has told us what are

the most searched for terms on the

UK website. No surprises, Meghan

Markle is the top one on the list,

and fidgets spinners also up there.

You're watching Business Live.

Our top story: US interest rates

are expected to rise

by 0.25% later today.

It would be the third increase

by the Federal Reserve this year.

But with inflation still relatively

low, there's a big debate

about whether raising rates

is the right answer.

A quick look at how

markets are faring.

The markets are digesting some

corporate news stories that are out

there. But also treading water ahead

of a Fed announcement later today.

That is how Europe is trading at the

moment. I like it when it changes

from red to green like that while we

are on it. It doesn't happen

from red to green like that while we

are on it. It doesn't happen! Little

things.

Now, here's a question -

how do you feed a rapidly growing

world which has limited resources?

The UN predicts that by 2050

the global population will have

reached almost ten billion,

raising big questions

over food security.

Will there be enough to go around,

and where will it come from?

Well, one French start-up

thinks it has answer.

By reducing agriculture's dependence

on traditional animal feed,

it would free up food like soybeans,

corn and oats for human consumption

rather than animals.

It's secured more than $1 million

of funding, and produces animal feed

from insect larvae using waste

fruit and vegetables.

Syrine Chaalala is co-founder

and Chief Operating

Officer at Next Protein.

That is the company behind all of

this. Good morning. Syrine

That is the company behind all of

this. Good morning. Syrine, you and

your husband co-founded this, you

used to work at the UN and your

husband is a chemist, so put the two

together and you end up with this

company.

Exactly, and it works out

great because we both have our own

skill sets, and it allows us to work

and live together, because I was

working in the UN in the field, and

as a professional woman it is not

always easy to work away, so it is a

great opportunity.

Say you are both

based in Tunisia but you also have

offices in Paris, so you are between

the two?

Our headquarters is in

Paris, but the production plant is

in Tunisia, because the insects we

have chosen, insects in general have

to have certain parameters in place

would include lighting, temperature,

so for us it made sense to have our

production plant in Tunisia where

the temperatures are ambient audio

long.

We are looking at pictures

here of what appeared to be bugs.

Just explain this for us.

To give

you an idea of what a day looks like

at baulk, we start receiving some

fruits and vegetables that would

have ended up in landfill, and they

have already gone through triage,

but we also make sure they are clean

and authorised fruits and vegetables

by the European Commission. Then we

have our own recipe, puree that we

have created through lots of

research which is the optimal puree

from the insect growth. We grind the

fruits and vegetables, we take it,

we feed the lava, which are placed

in their own chamber, and once they

reach a certain size, we take 95% of

them, which are processed into three

main products, we have our protein

powder, oil and the Next grow, a

natural fertiliser.

It sounds quite

expensive and labour-intensive. Is

it expensive for farmers who will be

buying this feed, and to what extent

will it help with the issue of food

security in the future?

It will help

in many ways. The product that we

are putting on the market is very

competitive. Currently as you may

know the what is used as a source of

protein, the traditional protein

sources that are used are soy bean

and fishmeal. We know that the

fishmeal is depleting, and soy beans

are resource intensive. What we are

doing is offering an alternative

that is sustainable and that has

close to no carbon footprint. And

also has a nutritional value that is

equivalent.

And why is this better

than animal standing in fields

eating grass? What difference does

it make?

Our product will not be

consumed by cows, for example. The

main animals that will consume our

product are fish, aqua culture,

authorised in Europe, poultry and

pigs. And as you may know, we are

going back to nature. Chickens eat

insects naturally, fish eat insects

naturally, and pigs are omnivores.

So it is better for their health. It

is so much more to talk about, as

usual. Time is getting the better

us. Syrine

usual. Time is getting the better

us. Syrine, thank you very much, and

your new adventure starts in a few

months with your first baby.

Yes, we are already preparing for

succession!

You will have to figure

out how to run the country -- the

company and be parents!

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.

Stay up-to-date with all of the

day's business news as it happens on

the live page. There is insight and

analysis from our team of editors

right around the globe, and we want

to hear from you, too. Get involved

on our web page.

BBC live, what you need to know,

when you need to know it. Do get in

touch with us. That's talk about

some of those questions at the

start, whether Facebook is indeed

caring society apart, that is the

accusation. People saying yes and

no, both positive and negative

influences on me. We have pink bag

lady, who says I am largely

housebound, Facebook is my window

into the world, my life is poorer

without it. And then Queen caffeine

says negative, I left Facebook in

favour of Twitter and Instagram,

much less drama, messages are to the

point, although the characters are

getting more and more, are they? And

one here, Facebook totally negative,

young people and students waste

their time taking of posting

pictures.

, Tom, what do you think?

There are

pros and cons, and they? Everything

in moderation.

I'm always reminded,

when we do these stories, we have

certain demographic watching us.

Let's talk about Disney and

21st-century fox, this was breaking

yesterday afternoon when the news

that Comcast had pulled out came

through, and we also saw Disney and

21st-century shares up on Wall

Street, too.

This is an interesting

deal for Disney, a reflection of the

changing face of entertainment.

Clearly streaming services, the

likes of Netflix and Amazon,

are really taking over from

traditional television, cable,

satellite subscriptions. And I think

the Disney is very much in that

latter camp, and it needs to move

into that streaming world. So this

would be a very interesting deal.

So

much consolidation and working out

what bits might need to be sold off

to make the deal go through.

What it

looks like is the Murdochs will keep

whole of the new things, which is

their main interest.

Thanks the company today. We will do

it all again tomorrow. Are you here

tomorrow? I'm not. I am here.

Goodbye.