01/11/2017 Business Briefing

This is Business Briefing.

I'm Sally Bundock.

In the dock - Silicon Valley's

social media giants defend

their stance on political

propaganda - but will tighter

regulation be enforced?

Markets are awaiting the latest

interest rate decision

from the US central bank.

Tomorrow Donald Trump

will announce his choice for head

of the Federal Reserve.

And share markets in Asia start

the month of November on a high

as traders prepare for the latest

decision from the US central bank.

First though, let's bring

you the latest on events

in New York.

A man has deliberately driven

a pick-up truck into cyclists

and pedestrians in New York killing

at least eight people

and injuring twelve others.

Officials have described

it as a terrorist act.

Police sources have named

the suspect as twenty-nine year-old

Sayfullo Saipov - from Uzbekistan -

who moved to America in 2010.

This is live pictures of the scene.

That is the vehicle that was stopped

by police. Sayfullo Saipov was shot

shortly after the incident when he

left the vehicle and he is now in

hospital where he is being treated

but under guard, of course. Police

believe in the authorities believe

he was a lone wolf attacker but as

you can imagine, an investigation is

under way on the part of the FBI and

the authorities to find out exactly

who he was and what links he had to

any terrorist organisations. We will

keep you updated throughout the

programme.

Tech executives have

finished their first day

of testimony in front

of the US Congress.

Representatives from Facebook,

Google and Twitter have faced

questions from US policymakers

about Russian interference in the US

Presidential election.

Our North America technology

reporter, Dave Lee, has been

following the story

from Washington DC.

The first committee hearing has

concluded. Was a fairly comfortable

ride, I must say, for the three

technology companies, Facebook,

Google and Twitter. They put on

something of an united front. They

wanted to show the senators that

they were capable, they say, of

dealing with this Rob on their own.

The problem is, friendly, enormous.

Facebook said as many as 126 million

users may have been reached by

Russian propaganda. To the said it

could have been as many as 288

million on its platform and Google

said it has widespread problems on

its network as well. However, they

say they will enforce stricter

policies, more transparent policies

about advertising and that will stop

this problem from occurring in the

future election. On the other hand,

senators do not seem so convinced of

that. Many of them are pushing for

new regulations that would make the

entire ad process and many of the

algorithms on these networks a lot

more transparent and public. The

companies that, of course, do not

want that. We will hear more from

Dave on that story as it progresses.

Now a busy day for the United

States. The central bank has

gathered the Federal Reserve and

they will make their announcement as

well later on the latest decision

about the cost of role running. That

quantitive easing, as it is known.

Is go to our Asia business because

the story is watched over the world.

The markets in Asia are starting a

November on a high. Talk us through

it. That is right.

It is on a

positive move that. We have the

likes of Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong all

in positive territory. All are

waiting to see what the Federal

Reserve will do in terms of monetary

policy. But when you speak with

analysts, they are not expecting a

move or an interest rate until

December. The focus is on who will

replace the current Federal chair

after her term expires in February.

One of the candidates is a

Republican, another is John Taylor,

a Stanford economist and always on

the Republican list of potential

Federal Reserve jazz. He thinks the

reserve should be much higher

despite low inflation. Earlier we

spoke to a economist who explains

why Janet should stay on as the

chief.

She probably should stay

because you want somebody as

credible as Janet and the only

Canada is to repay and -- reappoint

her. The others are rather less

credible or are more hawkish.

But

she is a Democrat.

This is the

problem. President Trump has been

trying to overturn so many of the

things that President Obama did and

appointing Janet Yellen was one of

those things. The expectation is

that she will not make it.

The

markets are watching closely on who

the choice of President Trump will

be. The moment of truth should come

in about in nine days time. For now,

investors are watching closely to

more company earnings and the key

job support which will be released

on Friday. Great to be here on your

new show, Sally.

Good to have you,

as always. You are a vital element

and we will see you shortly. Talking

now about what is going on in

Malaysia.

Malaysia has been hit by a massive

data breach which could have

compromised the personal information

of the entire population.

Leisha Santorelli has been

following the story from Singapore.

The customer data of more than 46

million mobile subscribers in

Malaysia appears to be leaked onto

the dark Web. Leisure only has a

population of around 32 million

people so this could affect the

entire country. Personal information

that was leaked included things like

personal identification numbers,

mobile numbers as well as home

addresses. It was first discovered

by a local website, a local

technology website which said an

individual was trying to sell this

bizarre -- data for an undisclosed

sum of Bitcoin. The local website

also said that it appeared that the

rich took place between 2014 and

2015. It has been flagged to the

Malaysia and regulators and they are

investigating. Could have legal

ramifications for the Telecom on

occasion operators because they have

an obligation to keep data

protected. Experts say that what

customers can do right now is

replaced their Sim card because

having personal data leaked is quite

a serious thing. These days,

criminals can take that information

and use it for things such as fraud

or identity theft.

The head of Mexico's oil firm Pemex

has told the BBC that if the current

trade friction with

the United States were to spread

to the energy market,

then both countries would suffer.

He was speaking to our

Business Editor Simon Jack.

Repurchase a lot of gas from the

United States so, you know, I am a

firm believer that trade is good for

two people, it is not win lose. We

both went.

You must admit, however,

that the tone of the relationship

has changed. The idea of building a

wall, is not a physical one, a trade

one in NAFTA is creaking a little

bit of the scenes that it is Donald

Trump, is his bark worse than his

bite?

I can say this. We exported

around 800,000 barrels of oil every

day. Mostly to the United States. We

import 500,000 barrels of gasoline

and diesel. Mostly from the United

States. We import 2 billion cubic

feet of natural gas, mostly from the

United States. That is advantageous

to both of us. Now if somebody wants

to get in the middle of this trade,

there are going to be many people

who will be unhappy about it because

many jobs are associated with it on

both sides of the border. I think,

you know, so far, energy is not part

of NAFTA and so far there have been

no talks about hindering any of this

very advantageous trade between the

two countries. We will see. If it

does, people, people will complain.

The US President, is he a friend or

a foe?

Well... There is no answer.

For us, it has been a difficult

year, for Mexico.

But let's see. In

what way has it been difficult?

Well, there has been a lot of noise

around the relationship between

Mexico and the United States. This

has put us in an interesting

situation, in a difficult situation.

An interesting perspective from the

head of the Mexican oil from --

firm.

The price of Bitcoin rose

above $6,300 after the US exchange

operator announced plans to launch

a futures contract based

on the digital currency

by the end of the year.

Futures contracts are used by many

traditional financial assets -

they are a common way to hedge

against price swings.

India has climbed 30 places

in the World Bank's rankings

for Ease of Doing Business.

It's the first time the country has

finished in the top 100 places

on the list.

In July, the government introduced

a new nationwide tax system

which replaced over

a dozen state level taxes.

That's it for Business

Briefing this hour.

But before we go,

here are the markets.

They continue to be strong board in

a used. The News Briefing is next.

Stay with us as we talk you through

all the stories in the global media

including the events in New York.