26/02/2018 BBC Business Live


26/02/2018

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LineFromTo

This is Business Live

from BBC News

0:00:050:00:08

with Sally Bundock

and Ben Thompson.

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Inside or outside,

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the British Bovernment faces

more Brexit pressure

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as the Labour opposition is

expected to call

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for the UK to stay

in a customs union.

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Live from London, that's our top

story on Monday 26th February.

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The battle lines are drawn,

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the Labour leader will set

out his party's Brexit plans.

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Jeremy Corbyn is likely to call

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for full tariff-free

access to EU markets -

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could he force the Prime Minister

to change her position?

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Also in the programme,

it's a mobile world after all.

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Smartphone sales are falling

for the first time,

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so what have the industry giants got

planned to get us buying again?

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Rory Cellan-Jones is at the Mobile

World Congress in Barcelona.

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And it is a brand-new trading week,

and the markets in Europe are all

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higher on the day following a bumper

session in Asia.

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And working part-time

but shining all the time.

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We'll speak one woman whose built

a successful jewellery business

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that counts the Duchess of Cambridge

amongst its customers,

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despite only working part-time.

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As we've been hearing,

smartphone sales are in decline.

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Today we want to know have

we reached peak smartphone.

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Why and when do you upgrade?

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Let us know - just use #BBCBizLive.

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Hello and welcome to Business Live.

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Many of you have been in touch

already about smartphones, keep your

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comments coming in, we will share

them later in the programme.

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It's shaping up to be another

big week for Brexit.

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In a few hours' time,

the leader of the Labour opposition,

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Jeremy Corbyn, is set to increase

the pressure on Prime Minister

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Theresa May when he calls for the UK

to have full tariff-free access

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to European Union markets

after Brexit.

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In a speech,

Mr Corbyn will call for the UK

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to stay in a customs union

after Brexit,

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which is scheduled for the end

of March next year.

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Some sort of trade agreement

is important for both sides.

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In 2016, the UK's trade relationship

with the rest of the EU

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was worth about $730 billion.

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Any customs union would also be

particularly important

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to the Northern Ireland border.

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According to the FT,

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an EU document due out

on Wednesday will call

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for the province to remain under

EU regulation as a last resort.

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So where now? Overdue, Ben. Chris

Mason joins us from a pretty snowy

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Westminster. Explain this

intervention, it is significant, and

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it could change things where you are

this morning.

It really good, the

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conversation about Brexit swells a

bit like the snow at Westminster,

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except that it is actually constant,

and the challenges, both for people

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watching and absorbing it in the UK,

and around the world, is that often

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there is a lot to talk about when it

comes to Brexit, but you do wonder

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if people are actually saying

anything. Today is different,

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because Labour, the opposition party

in the UK, are diverging from what

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the Government is advocating. They

are suggesting the UK should remain

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in a customs union with the European

Union. Not the one that the UK is

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currently in as a member of the EU,

but one pretty similar. So they're

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adamant as that would allow the free

movement of goods around the members

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of that union. -- so their argument.

But those who argue that Brexit is a

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good thing say one of the principle

advantages of leaving a customs

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union is that you can strike free

trade deals around the world, and if

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you are in a customs union, that is

not going to be possible. They're

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adamant is that it is sensible

because these are the major

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customers of the UK. -- their

argument. It may also be crucial in

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maintaining a soft border between

Northern Ireland and the Republic.

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Is this back to the argument of the

critics in saying that you cannot

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just cherry pick what you want?

It

lands us slap bang in that adamant,

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the cake philosophy, as Brussels

insiders have described it, to tease

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the UK about this. -- in that

argument. If you want to be part of

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some of our arrangements, whether

that be the single market for the

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customs union, you can sign up to

them, but we would rather you have

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not left in the first place. But

they argue that you cannot

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cherry-pick, you cannot pick what

you like and reject other things. If

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you want to sign up to this, you

take them as they are or not at all.

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We saw that criticism levelled at

the Government by the EU last week

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after Theresa May got a Cabinet

together, the same criticism could

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be levelled at Labour, but this

matters because there is now a

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distinct difference between the two

principle parties in British

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politics on their philosophies on

Brexit.

So it is hoped that

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reception may be warmer than where

you are, stay warm, state dry, looks

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a bit wild out there!

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Let's take a look

at some of the other

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stories making the news.

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The New York film studio co-founded

by the disgraced producer

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Harvey Weinstein look set

to file for bankruptcy.

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According to US media reports,

it comes after the collapse

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of talks to sell its assets

to an investor group.

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Several newspapers have a statement

saying the directors believe

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it is the "only viable option

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to maximise the company's

remaining value."

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Latvia's financial authorities

are due to hold an emergency meeting

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later today as the country's

third-biggest bank teeters

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on the edge of collapse.

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ABLV Bank is being wound up

after it was accused by the US

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of large scale money laundering,

bribing officials and breaching

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sanctions against North Korea.

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The car-maker Fiat Chrysler

is planning to scrap diesel

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from all its passenger

vehicles by 2022.

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That's according to

the Financial Times,

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which says the company is grappling

with a collapse in demand

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and rising costs from their vehicles

and will unveil its plans in June.

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What would persuade you to upgrade

your smartphone and pay the pretty

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hefty price tag they often come

with? It is a big question for the

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industry's massive gathering in

Barcelona.

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Research shows that sales of

handsets fell by over 5% in the last

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three months of last year, and that

is marking the first decline on

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record. Samsung is still the world's

number one with over 20% of global

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sales. Its archrival compares with

14% of market share, Apple, of

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course, and several Chinese

companies are looking up added too.

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Let's speak to Rory Cellan-Jones,

who is at the Mobile World Congress

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in Barcelona. They are all there,

trying to tell you and us they have

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got the latest thing that we must

have, but what is it?

Well, it is a

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whole variety of things, Ben. The

problem is that all smartphones look

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almost identical at the moment, and

every new model, you say, is that

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really different? Yes, it has an

amazing new twist! But consumers are

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getting savvy and saying, do I

really need to upgrade as quickly?

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This event is about more than the

handsets, it is about the new things

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you can do with them, about in-car

phones, there will be one company

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demonstrating that you can basically

steer an autonomous car on just a

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phone alone - seems pretty scary!

There is a lot about the future of

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networks, a whole display about 5G,

which is the next phase coming from

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a Korean company here. So the whole

mobile infrastructure, a very

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important week for them, to convince

us we really need to upgrade.

And we

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have asked viewers for their

thoughts on upgrading, and of them

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are saying they are at pains to

upgrade now with the price of the

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new phones so expensive.

Yeah, and

that is why there is so much effort

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on these big phone launchers. We had

the biggest launch of last night,

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the Samsung Galaxy S9, and all sorts

of tricks, I will try a trickier

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funds. I have actually got the phone

on my phone, a bit of augmented

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reality, that is what they did at

the demo, the unveiling last night.

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Quite difficult to tell what it will

do, it does very slow motion, and

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one funny feature, you can build

your own emoji, your own life like

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animated cartoon of yourself. I

build one of me, my wife tells me it

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looks much younger, but I am

thinking used-car salesman! I am not

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sure that will really sell a new

phone, but Samsung are confident

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that people will still upgrade, they

want the latest thing, even if it is

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expensive.

All right, Rory, thank

you very much, Rory is on Twitter,

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of course.

We will probably end up talking to

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his avatar emoji before we speak to

him!

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Just to say, 5 billion emojis was

sent last year alone by smartphones.

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Do you use emojis?

I love them!

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You sometimes send me a smiley face?

By night I love them, I think they

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are great!

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Maura Fogarty is in our

Asia business hub.

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Yes,

what the chairman of Geely

once, he gets, we saw there -- their

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shares up, and he spent about $9

billion to buy that nearly 10% stake

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that you mentioned. What does he

want? He wants access to Daimler's

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technology in electric cars and

autonomous driving vehicles, because

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that is where he sees big disruption

happening in the market for cars.

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What is interesting about this is

how the stake was acquired. Last

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day, Geely approached Daimler and

said, listen, we would like to be a

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shareholder, can you issue some new

shares? They were round the Reebok

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by the Germans, but today the

chairman used an investment vehicle

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he owns to buy open shares in the

market. -- roundly rebuffed. This

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conflict takes things for Daimler in

China because they already have a

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link with a Chinese company called

BAIC, so a messy start to the

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relationship, but he will be meeting

with Daimler executives to try to

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smooth it over later this afternoon.

A story to watch, for sure. Let's

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look at the markets across the

board, Australia and Hong Kong,

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Japan closing up, just shy of 1.3%

higher, and that was Friday on Wall

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Street. We had a two-week global

rally, will it extends to a third?

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It looks like it will in Europe, all

higher, a lot of attention on the

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Federal Reserve again this week, the

new man at the top is going to speak

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publicly twice this week. Let's look

at head to the day on Wall Street,

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Yogita Limaye has the details.

More

than ever, stock markets in the

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United States are watching the

Federal Reserve, each signal from

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the central bank about how it sees

monetary policy developing seems to

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be setting the course of the

markets, at least until the next

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signal. So Friday could be a busy

day. First of all, the Fed issues a

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semiannual report on monetary policy

to Congress. Does it think inflation

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is heading higher? How many rate

rises does it expect this year? If

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the report contains a definitive

answer to those questions, it would

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be something of a first, but it

won't stop investors from poring

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over it for every last clue they can

find. Then, at a conference in New

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York, senior policy makers from the

Fed, including the New York

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President, William Dudley, will

speak about how the Fed is forming

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its response to the challenges of

inflation and new government

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spending.

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Joining us is James Hughes,

a market analyst at AxiTrader.

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Morning! Interesting week in the

sense that all the action will

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happen towards the end of the week,

but investors really trying to work

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out what happened at the end of last

week first.

Last week we saw some

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really big moves, and it was all

about the Fed speakers, all these

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members of the Federal Reserve, some

of them talking up rate hikes, some

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of them talking down, in the we have

no idea where it is going kind of

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way! So the markets looked

particularly volatile at the end of

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last week, so a case of when we have

quite a quiet start in terms of

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macroeconomic data, we will try to

focus on why they moved like they

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did last week, and it was quite an

aggressive end to the week last

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week.

So in terms of the week ahead,

talking about the fact that it is

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economic heavy in the US, the jobs

report on Friday - that report last

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time caused markets to be really

spooked, didn't it? For sure, and it

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is not necessarily the overall

number of jobs, it is the wages,

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very much like what we saw for the

UK last week. That wage data is very

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stagnant,

and the Federal Reserve

want to see that get higher.

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Expectations are that it will go

higher, which is why there is a lot

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of talk that we could see maybe four

rate hikes in the US this year, but

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with Jerome Powell are speaking

twice this week, it will be his

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first real engagement as the chair

of the Fed, it will be important to

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see his stance on how many rate

hikes we are going to see and

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whether he is hawkish, whether he

wants them higher or lower.

That is

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one to watch. James is coming back.

He is a serials smartphone upgrade.

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Key it's coming in. -- comments.

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-- comments.

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Still to come...

0:15:420:15:44

Could encouraging more

people to work part-time

0:15:440:15:45

be good news for us and the economy?

0:15:450:15:47

A new study says more of us

than ever are working fewer hours

0:15:470:15:50

to get a better work-life balance.

0:15:500:15:51

You're with Business

Live from BBC News.

0:15:510:15:59

A deadline is drawing closer that

could decide the future

0:15:590:16:01

of Toys R Us in the UK.

0:16:010:16:05

The UK part of the firm could fall

in to administration as soon

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as tomorrow if a deal isn't done

today, putting more

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than 3,000 jobs at risk.

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Let's speak to Maureen Hinton,

Global Research Director

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at Global Data.

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What do you think will happen this

week?

It does not look very good. It

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looks like it will not be able to

pay its back bill and it has had to

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trade since Christmas. It looks like

the company will fold. It is a real

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shame for all the employees.

One we

talk about Toys "R" Us, there is a

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tendency to look back nostalgically

and remember those big out-of-town

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stores that many families might have

gone to before Christmas or a big

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birthday, but they did not keep up

with the times, did they?

The

0:16:580:17:05

competition has moved on. We use

online much more, we shop or from

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supermarkets, Argos as well. It has

not kept up with it. Also there is

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another competitor, Smith's Toys,

also on retail parks, and it seems

0:17:170:17:22

families preferred to go there. It

is a case of lack of investment and

0:17:220:17:26

keeping up with the competition.

You

do not mention Amazon, which before

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Christmas really slashed its prices

significantly, taking a hit on its

0:17:320:17:38

own margins to stamp out

competition.

Amazon is always the

0:17:380:17:43

elephant in the room in retail

because it is taking lunch from

0:17:430:17:47

everybody because it is so good at

delivering. It has got good

0:17:470:17:52

fulfilment, especially on toys and

gifts before Christmas. It is so

0:17:520:17:56

convenient. It is affecting all

retailers and they all have to up

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their game and a lot of them are, a

lot of them are keeping ahead, but

0:18:010:18:05

online takes a lot of investment

because there is so much on the

0:18:050:18:10

fulfilment side and we have got such

expectations as consumers. It is a

0:18:100:18:14

very tough world for retail.

Toys

"R" Us is a story to keep an eye out

0:18:140:18:21

for tomorrow and the days ahead. And

there is a story about why Taiwan

0:18:210:18:30

may have run out of toilet roll!

0:18:300:18:37

You're watching Business

Live, our top story...

0:18:370:18:42

Britain should stay in a customs

union after Brexit. That is expected

0:18:420:18:46

to be the message from the leader of

the Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn. He

0:18:460:18:51

is due to say later today in a move

that will increase pressure on

0:18:510:18:54

Theresa May that staying in the

customs union is best for business.

0:18:540:18:58

But that raises all sorts of

questions for how the government

0:18:580:19:02

intends to negotiate.

0:19:020:19:04

intends to negotiate.

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A quick look at how

markets are faring.

0:19:050:19:11

But as you heard from James, markets

are keeping an eye on the end of

0:19:110:19:16

week.

0:19:160:19:18

More and more of us

are working part time,

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according the latest figures,

and for employers that means

0:19:200:19:23

they can improve diversity and offer

jobs to people who would otherwise

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not be able to work.

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The UK recruitment agency Timewise

has published research

0:19:270:19:29

today showing one in four full-time

workers would prefer

0:19:290:19:33

to work part-time for

a cut in their salary,

0:19:330:19:35

as long as it didn't

affect their career progression.

0:19:350:19:37

But that's the problem.

0:19:370:19:41

Many workers worry it

will affect their future career.

0:19:410:19:44

In fact, 77% of existing part-time

workers reported that they feel

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"trapped" in their current roles.

0:19:470:19:49

But nearly a million

part-time workers are now

0:19:490:19:52

defined as "high income",

meaning they earn

0:19:520:19:56

a minimum of £40,000 -

that's about $56,000.

0:19:560:20:00

And in order to champion part-time

working, Timewise has

0:20:000:20:02

created a series of awards.

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One of them is Beatrice

De Montille, winners

0:20:110:20:14

who is the founder of the bespoke

jewellers Merci Maman.

0:20:140:20:22

I have to declare I am a judge on

the panel for this, so I know your

0:20:220:20:26

company well. Tell us why you

started this company working on a

0:20:260:20:30

part-time basis.

I started working

on my own self employed at the

0:20:300:20:39

beginning because I wanted to work

part-time in my company at the time

0:20:390:20:43

when I came back from maternity

leave did not accept part-time jobs,

0:20:430:20:49

so it was quite easy to make the

decision to stop working. I was

0:20:490:20:54

influenced by a friend of mine who

started a home business before me. I

0:20:540:20:59

thought I could do the same and it

gave me the confidence and I was

0:20:590:21:03

looking for a good idea and that is

how I started.

Many people would

0:21:030:21:07

imagine that starting a business is

not the way to work part-time. A new

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business will require all your

attention. How did you do it?

I had

0:21:150:21:21

to juggle between my family life and

my working life, but when you are a

0:21:210:21:26

mother there is a time when your

baby is sleeping and I was working

0:21:260:21:30

during that time. After they went to

nursery I had to rush to the post

0:21:300:21:36

office to post my items before

picking them up at nursery. I always

0:21:360:21:41

had to be flexible, but I managed

and I started on my own, but now I

0:21:410:21:45

have a team of 30 people ten years

later. It is a good success that can

0:21:450:21:51

maybe get ideas to others. I would

love to be an inspiration to other

0:21:510:21:55

women.

We are looking at your team

in operation. You come up with

0:21:550:22:03

personalised gifts. A lot of it is

jewellery.

We focus on jewellery

0:22:030:22:09

now. At the beginning we were doing

other products, but now we are

0:22:090:22:12

focusing on jewellery. We engraved

by hand in our workshop in London

0:22:120:22:17

and we have opened a studio in Paris

two years ago and the new one this

0:22:170:22:23

month in March in Berlin.

As far as

the part-time work, we touched on

0:22:230:22:29

how important it is for employers

and employees, but this is not just

0:22:290:22:34

about mothers. This applies to

anyone who wants to reduce their

0:22:340:22:37

hours.

Exactly, that is why I wanted

to focus on that. It is great if you

0:22:370:22:45

want to balance your family and

working life, but in my company one

0:22:450:22:51

third of the employees work

part-time and some of them are

0:22:510:22:54

artists, so it is a great source of

revenue for them. They can lead

0:22:540:23:02

their own artistic life alongside.

It is a great example. It is not

0:23:020:23:06

only for mothers, it is great as

well for other people who have

0:23:060:23:10

passions and they need time to give

up their skills.

And you have got

0:23:100:23:14

four children and you are moving

back to France with your husband.

0:23:140:23:18

You have lured him away from

investment banking and he is working

0:23:180:23:21

in your business, is that right?

He

joined big four years ago. He was

0:23:210:23:27

jealous of my flexibility and he

wanted to spend more time with our

0:23:270:23:30

kids. He is picking them up from

school today because I am away. It

0:23:300:23:37

is a win- win situation for all of

us.

We will not get into how it is

0:23:370:23:42

working with your husband, that is a

whole other conversation. So nice to

0:23:420:23:47

see you. Good luck with everything.

In the moment we will look through

0:23:470:23:54

the stories in the papers and we

will get your take on the smartphone

0:23:540:24:00

upgrading debate. What would

convince you to upgrade. A lot of

0:24:000:24:04

you are messaging as. Here is how to

get in touch. Stay up-to-date with

0:24:040:24:12

all the business news on the BBC's

business live page. There is an

0:24:120:24:17

analysis from our editors around the

globe. Get involved on the BBC's

0:24:170:24:22

business live web page. We want to

hear from you. We are on Twitter and

0:24:220:24:28

Facebook.

0:24:280:24:39

James is back as promised. You are

serial upgraded. Have you got a

0:24:400:24:47

problem?

Yes, this is one of them. I

get that bug that I want it. Is your

0:24:470:24:57

wife watching now? I don't want it

and then I wanted and I fog out

0:24:570:25:02

loads of money and three minutes

after getting it it is the same as

0:25:020:25:06

the other one.

A lot of people are

getting in touch saying, you have to

0:25:060:25:10

convince me it is sufficiently

different to pay up to £1000. Prices

0:25:100:25:15

are ridiculous, it does not justify

the small improvements made. Nick

0:25:150:25:21

says the £200 phone does the same as

an £800 phone, so there is no need

0:25:210:25:26

to upgrade. But it is not about

need, is it?

With a lot of these

0:25:260:25:32

smartphone companies it is very rare

that upgrade the handset in a

0:25:320:25:36

significant way and usually it is

the operating system and we can

0:25:360:25:40

download that for free anyway about

two months after the release of the

0:25:400:25:45

phone. It is the software that we

can get for free.

I replace my phone

0:25:450:25:51

when I lose it or when it stops

working, that is Mike Harvey. So

0:25:510:25:56

many it's coming in.

Thank

0:25:560:25:58

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