0:00:15 > 0:00:17Hello.
0:00:17 > 0:00:20This is Business Briefing.
0:00:20 > 0:00:27My name is Sally Bundock. Here are the headlines:
0:00:27 > 0:00:28President Trump leaves markets on tenterhooks,
0:00:28 > 0:00:31pledging to appoint the next Federal Reserve chair this week.
0:00:31 > 0:00:33We run you through the main contenders.
0:00:33 > 0:00:35And troubled Japanese steelmaker Kobe withdraws its earnings
0:00:35 > 0:00:38forecast, as the scandal over its falsified data casts
0:00:38 > 0:00:40uncertainty over the company's results.
0:00:40 > 0:00:44And on the markets stocks in Asia are mixed amid a slew of big
0:00:44 > 0:00:46corporate earnings and losses on markets in China.
0:00:46 > 0:01:13Plus political turmoil in Spain weighs on the euro.
0:01:13 > 0:01:19Good to have you with us. We start with a woman I would like to
0:01:19 > 0:01:21interview. It is Janet Yellen.
0:01:21 > 0:01:23Janet Yellen's days as chair of the Federal Reserve
0:01:23 > 0:01:24could be numbered.
0:01:24 > 0:01:27The chance that President Donald Trump will reappoint her are looking
0:01:27 > 0:01:30slim, and as Yellen's term ends in February that means
0:01:30 > 0:01:32the Commander-in-Chief is actively looking for a replacement.
0:01:32 > 0:01:35This is an important position and a powerful economic appointee.
0:01:35 > 0:01:38And it will also influence Mr Trump's success at making his
0:01:38 > 0:01:39super-charged economic growth, a reality.
0:01:39 > 0:01:41So who are the front runners?
0:01:41 > 0:01:56Samira Hussain reports.
0:01:56 > 0:02:02Don't expect presidential level political campaigning. The decision
0:02:02 > 0:02:07on who becomes the next chair of the Fed rests solely in the hands of the
0:02:07 > 0:02:12President. So who is in the running? Usually the easiest and most desired
0:02:12 > 0:02:19outcome from Wall Street is to maintain the status quo. Here that
0:02:19 > 0:02:23Ms Janet Yellen. But she has disagree with the President in terms
0:02:23 > 0:02:27of rolling back banking rules since the financial crisis. Then there is
0:02:27 > 0:02:35Gary Cohn, the head of the President's economic council. He was
0:02:35 > 0:02:38considered the favourite, but their relationship went south, after he
0:02:38 > 0:02:42disagreed with the President's response to the violence in
0:02:42 > 0:02:46Charlottesville. So who is left? John Taylor. He is a Stanford
0:02:46 > 0:02:49economist and always on the republican list of potential Fages.
0:02:49 > 0:03:01But never gets the job. -- Fed chairs. He is a poor clippings that
0:03:01 > 0:03:05interest rate should be lowered despite inflation. Next is Jerome
0:03:05 > 0:03:12Powell, a member of the Federal board, and has expressed on the --
0:03:12 > 0:03:17and has its roots in the private sector. And then there is Kevin
0:03:17 > 0:03:24Warsh. He has been on the Fed bought for more than a decade, so knows the
0:03:24 > 0:03:35gig. But he may want interest rates go. And he was warned about
0:03:35 > 0:03:40inflation. Whoever Rodez will have a difficult job ahead steering away
0:03:40 > 0:03:47from historically low interest rates.
0:03:47 > 0:03:49With me is Nandini Ramakrishnan, Global Market Strategist at JP
0:03:49 > 0:03:51Morgan Asset Management.
0:03:51 > 0:03:59Good morning. Good to see you. So is Samir Hussein was talking to some of
0:03:59 > 0:04:06the candidates. There are few fair, Powell, the continuity candidate,
0:04:06 > 0:04:11then Taylor, who could be a little bit more unpredictable.Yes, there
0:04:11 > 0:04:16is a difference between Powell having experience and working with
0:04:16 > 0:04:23the Taylor for several years, and Taylor, who is eight professor who
0:04:23 > 0:04:26invented the Taylor Rule, and according to that rule, they should
0:04:26 > 0:04:32be higher than where they are now. This is a continuity candidate
0:04:32 > 0:04:36versus somebody who is a little bit mawkish. It is important to remember
0:04:36 > 0:04:39that whoever is picked, they are still working with a Fed that has
0:04:39 > 0:04:45many participants and interest rates will not change necessarily straight
0:04:45 > 0:04:49after the appointment.That is right. There would be an immediate
0:04:49 > 0:04:57shed. And over has the job will be very conscious of the power they'd
0:04:57 > 0:05:03have, because the wrong comment can make markets go all over the place.
0:05:03 > 0:05:09Yes, and as Janet Yellen has seen, that press conference that has the
0:05:09 > 0:05:13data come out is so important. The way she says several words, phrases,
0:05:13 > 0:05:17that is really watched by every pet is a bit in the market around the
0:05:17 > 0:05:21world.From the point of view of Janet Yellen, she is not out of the
0:05:21 > 0:05:23frame completely, although most believe she will not be appointed
0:05:23 > 0:05:28for a second term. What do you think about that? She did a decent job,
0:05:28 > 0:05:33didn't she?She has been the key message person to get the markets in
0:05:33 > 0:05:39the world to see the Fed moving from low interest rates and no movement
0:05:39 > 0:05:45towards pulling back, so higher interest rates and the balance sheet
0:05:45 > 0:05:50coming back to line. She steered the Fed from accommodative to pulling
0:05:50 > 0:05:57back a bit.As it is the get any news about who Donald Trump
0:05:57 > 0:06:01nominates, we will update you. We need to move on, now.
0:06:01 > 0:06:04Troubled Japanese steelmaker Kobe Steel reports earnings in just
0:06:04 > 0:06:05under an hour's time.
0:06:05 > 0:06:08And according to reports, the firm will withdraw its earnings
0:06:08 > 0:06:11forecast for the current year, as it attempts to come to terms
0:06:11 > 0:06:13with the cost of the recent fake-data scandal.
0:06:13 > 0:06:16Revelations of widespread tampering of data has wiped a third off
0:06:16 > 0:06:24the value off its shares in the past three weeks.
0:06:24 > 0:06:27Yuichiro Nakajima is Managing Director, Crimson Phoenix Limited.
0:06:27 > 0:06:33Thank you for being on the programme. I guess no surprise. They
0:06:33 > 0:06:38cannot give us a sense of what is ahead, the best deal, because of the
0:06:38 > 0:06:45challenges ahead.No, there is too much uncertainty. -- of what is
0:06:45 > 0:06:51ahead, Kobe Steel, because of the. The committee has been subpoenaed
0:06:51 > 0:06:55with a request for information about what it did and what it knew and
0:06:55 > 0:07:03when. That could lead to a series of lawsuits, or lead to just some
0:07:03 > 0:07:07settlement or even nothing. So the US is a big market for the company
0:07:07 > 0:07:12and internationally the reputation is going to be much affected by what
0:07:12 > 0:07:16the Department of Justice says. So it is not really possible for
0:07:16 > 0:07:24analysts to come up with anything like a reliable forecast for the
0:07:24 > 0:07:27company's performance. And management is also going to struggle
0:07:27 > 0:07:35as well.Can I ask you what the outlook is like? I know you have
0:07:35 > 0:07:40just said it is going to be hard to say, but will we be talking about
0:07:40 > 0:07:46them in years to come, or not, giving the charges facing them?--
0:07:46 > 0:07:56given. Who could know. Many futures are in question here, such as Takata
0:07:56 > 0:08:05going under. Kobe Steel could suffer the same fate, but it could get
0:08:05 > 0:08:08government and private sector support. It is just too hard to say.
0:08:08 > 0:08:14We're just the beginning of the whole process and nowhere near being
0:08:14 > 0:08:21able to give an accurate forecast. All right, Yuichiro Nakajima, thank
0:08:21 > 0:08:27you for your time.
0:08:27 > 0:08:30Now let's brief you some other business stories.
0:08:30 > 0:08:33Puerto Rico's Power Authority has cancelled a controversial contract
0:08:33 > 0:08:36to rebuild the US territory's power grid.
0:08:36 > 0:08:38The $300 million contract had
0:08:38 > 0:08:40been handed to a small Montana-based company,
0:08:40 > 0:08:42without open bidding - a move that created uproar.
0:08:42 > 0:08:45Whitefish Energy had only two full-time staff when it won
0:08:45 > 0:08:46the massive deal.
0:08:46 > 0:08:48PetroChina is due to report third-quarter earnings
0:08:48 > 0:08:48later on Monday.
0:08:48 > 0:08:51The Chinese state-owned energy company has lost $800 billion
0:08:51 > 0:08:54in market value since it first started trading 10 years ago.
0:08:54 > 0:08:58It's been hit by a huge decline in the price of oil over the past
0:08:58 > 0:09:03decade, and a shift in China's economic policies.
0:09:03 > 0:09:06And the owner of bankrupt airline Monarch has promised to repay
0:09:06 > 0:09:08British taxpayers if it profits from any sale
0:09:08 > 0:09:09of the company's assets.
0:09:09 > 0:09:11Investor Greybull Capital says it has a "moral obligation"
0:09:11 > 0:09:14to reimburse the government, which spent nearly $80 million
0:09:14 > 0:09:16bringing passengers home after the UK's fifth biggest
0:09:16 > 0:09:32airline went bust.
0:09:32 > 0:09:36We have mentioned that it is a big day for corporate news.
0:09:36 > 0:09:38HSBC, Europe's largest bank by assets has just
0:09:38 > 0:09:39released its latest financial numbers.
0:09:39 > 0:09:41Our Asia Business Correspondent Karishma Vaswani is following
0:09:41 > 0:09:46the story in Singapore.
0:09:46 > 0:09:52Nice to see you. What do the numbers look like? At a good, bad, or ugly?
0:09:52 > 0:09:58On the service, a 446% jump in pre-tax profits looks pretty
0:09:58 > 0:10:03spectacular. And that is if you look at the numbers that HSBC has put
0:10:03 > 0:10:11out. That is up from $843 million in the fourth quarter of 2016. We need
0:10:11 > 0:10:16to put these figures into context. This is coming off a low base in the
0:10:16 > 0:10:20same period last year. At the time, he BC lost almost $2 billion from
0:10:20 > 0:10:24the sale of its Brazilian unit. There was also a fair amount of
0:10:24 > 0:10:31volatility in foreign currency movements. This time around, the
0:10:31 > 0:10:35chief executive, Stuart Gulliver, as the two did its performance to the
0:10:35 > 0:10:42banks' pivot to Asia. This has been happening for some time. -- bank's.
0:10:42 > 0:10:52At least half of the cabby's profits are due to Asia. But since the
0:10:52 > 0:10:56financial crisis, they have been cutting jobs to make the company
0:10:56 > 0:11:00more profitable, while making dividend payments to shareholders.
0:11:00 > 0:11:06The bank's continued bet on Asia, according to analysts, is why they
0:11:06 > 0:11:13have been continuing to get results. Thank you so much for joining us.
0:11:13 > 0:11:21But let's look at what is trending, now, in business, today.
0:11:21 > 0:11:24The Guardian says the UK could undergo a fourth
0:11:24 > 0:11:25industrial revolution.
0:11:25 > 0:11:27A post-brexit phenomenon that
0:11:27 > 0:11:33could add £445 billion to the economy.
0:11:33 > 0:11:35And billionaires love buying sports teams.
0:11:35 > 0:11:38But apparently it's not just an ego boost, it's actually
0:11:38 > 0:11:39good for business.
0:11:39 > 0:11:40That story on Business Insider.
0:11:40 > 0:11:42And Apple is taking product leaks very seriously.
0:11:42 > 0:11:45Marketwatch reports that an engineer was fired after his daughter
0:11:45 > 0:11:47uploaded a video of the new iPhone X to YouTube.
0:11:48 > 0:11:51And don't forget - let's us know what you are spotting
0:11:51 > 0:11:54online - use the hashtag #bbcthebriefing.
0:11:54 > 0:12:03Let's have a quick look at the markets.
0:12:03 > 0:12:11That's it for Business Briefing this hour.
0:12:14 > 0:12:21Come out next, we will have a take on some of the news stories around
0:12:21 > 0:12:40the world.