03/11/2017 Business Briefing

This is Business Briefing,

I'm David Eades.

It's the X factor!

Profits jump at Apple as it

forecasts a strong holiday season,

saying demand for the iPhone X

is "off the charts".

Plus, Washington's worst kept

secret is finally out.

President Trump nominates

Jerome Powell as the new boss

of the US Federal Reserve.

We'll tell you what it means

for the global economy

And on the markets:

Asian shares are higher

after another record close

for the Dow - as investors welcome

planned tax cuts and a safe pair

of hands at the Fed.

We'll have all the details for you.

We start with Apple -

it's already the world's most

valuable public company -

worth getting on for $900 billion

and counting.

Now its shares have hit

a new record high -

after it revealed a big jump

in profits and forecast strong sales

for the all-important

holiday season.

Let's show you the details.

Apple made a profit of $10.7 billion

in the three months to the end

of September - up around 19%

on the same time last year and well

above what investors were expecting.

At the heart of it all is the iPhone

Apple sold over 46 million of them

across the world in the three month

period - up 2.6% on last year.

It says sales growth was in double

digits in many emerging markets.

But it's the next quarter that has

investors really excited

because of this.

The new iPhone X is released today.

Apple has said demand

has been off the charts

and is forecasting record revenues

for the holiday season.

The big problem is

making enough of them.

Waiting times are currently up

to six weeks, but Apple says it

will reduce that in the coming days.

For many people though a big

concern will be the price

at just under $1000.

I think Apple has do, in my opinion,

pick up its game in some

departments. They have upped it with

iPhone X buffer that price...

Samsung is selling the same thing at

about 40% - 50%. Less. Everybody is

paying for the brand and everybody

knows that.

With me is Matti Littunen

from Enders Analysis.

You are quite excited about iPhone X

what does he have the point? Is the

quality worth $1000?

Well, it is the

most excited we have seen since the

iPhone 6 came out. Lots of

innovation in this model. Behind

that rant is that great quality and

innovation.

$1000 is a huge

purchase. Apple creaming off a

bigger profit and do they think they

can get away with that?

If you look

at the cost of the materials and

components, it looks like Apple is

going for the best possible poverty

and custom components, cutting edge

technologies so actually the cost to

make and has arisen.

You will have a

chance to play with it later today.

What are you keen to see?

Really

interesting innovations in the

camera and display technology, the

augmented reality features and

perhaps most importantly really fast

custom chips like machine learning

and things like games and

photography.

There are some issues.

The headphones no longer apply. They

have a different socket. How will

they deal with that?

Apple will be

happy to sell you an expensive new

set of headphones are they also have

the wireless headphones and, having

tried those, it does take the

experience forward and it is an

improvement because you do not have

to worry about the cable. Apple is

hoping to push user behaviour

forward in this. From a technical

perspective, it really does work and

quite optimistic.

Time will tell.

Thank you, very much indeed.

Let's stay in the US

where Washington's worst kept secret

is finally out.

Jerome Powell has formally been

nominated by President Trump

to become the world's most

powerful central banker.

If confirmed by the Senate

he will take over from Janet Yellen

when her term ends in February.

Samira Hussain reports.

Months of speculation and conjecture

finally ended when the President

walked into the Rose Garden with his

thumb and if the head of the US

Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, by

his side.

He has proven to be a

consensus builder for the sound

monetary and financial policy that

he so strongly believes in. Based on

his record, I am confident that J

has the wisdom and leadership to

guide our economy through any

challenges that our great economy

may face.

Mr Trump interviewed five

candidates but iPhone X has been the

frontrunner for weeks. He is

considered a safe choice. He has

been under Federal Reserve Board of

Governors and has experience in the

private sector.

Our economy has made

substantial progress to a full

recovery. Close to full employment

and inflation is close to our

target.

If that sounds familiar, it

showed. Janet Yellen has been

peddling that line for months.

Conditions in the Labour market are

strengthening and we expect that to

continue. While inflation remains

low, we expect it to rise to about

2% objective of the time.

Jerome

Powell is likely to continue the Fed

policy of gradually raising interest

rates, making the transition from

Janet Yellen to Jerome Powell

relatively smooth and that

continuity is smooth for people here

on Wall Street and the US market.

Let's go to Asia now and Chinese

e-commerce giant Alibaba

is celebrating what it called

an outstanding quarter.

That's been the top story

for our Asia business team -

Sharanjit Leyl is

following it for us.

Huge jump in quarterly revenues for

Alibaba especially field by its

online shopping. They rose by 61%, a

$.3 billion. The firm also raised

its revenue prediction for its

forecast. We knew it was expanding

to other things as well, investments

in supermarkets and stores, started

by Jack Mark, the billionaire. Also

its shopping platform. Active users

in the Chinese retail marketplace

grew by about 539 million, up a

staggering 20 million in just three

months. It has been on a hugely

strong run with its shares more than

doubling in value and it is gearing

up for the annual block buster

singles day event on November 11. A

huge sales bonanza that moves more

goods than the Black Friday and

Cyber Monday combined. Good result

for the firm.

Now let's brief you some

other business stories:

Venezuela's President says he aims

to restructure all future foreign

debt because of US sanctions.

Nicolas Maduro made the announcement

on state television at the same time

as confirming the country would pay

a $1.2bn bond payment that was due

on Thursday, albeit a day late.

Venezuela blames sanctions imposed

by the Trump administration

for its current economic crisis.

Tesco boss David Lewis has told

a London court of his "surprise

and shock" on learning the company's

profits had been exaggerated

by £246 million.

Mr Lewis has been giving evidence

at the trial into alleged fraud

at the supermarket giant.

Former Tesco executives

Carl Rogberg, Christopher Bush

and John Scouler are on trial.

All deny the charges.

And now what's trending

in the business news this morning.

Popular on Business Insider -

the boss of Pizza Hut says

protesting NFL players

haven't hurt his business.

This after the CEO of rival pizza

delivery firm Papa John's

controversially blamed a fall

in sales on a lack of leadership

by the NFL and falling ratings

for US football games.

From the Wall Street Journal,

a big question for many people

Friday - Who wins and loses

in the Republican tax bill?

The heirs of wealthy people and some

business owners stand to gain

from President Trump's proposals.

And from the Financial Times: Tesla

is facing a laundry list of concerns

and its share price

is taking a big hit -

after it pushed back targets

for its new Model 3 car and revealed

a record quarterly loss on Thursday.

And don't forget - let's us know

what you are spotting online.

Very keen to hear from you.

That's it for Business

Briefing this hour -

But before we go -

let's take a look at the markets:

Japan is closed for a holiday -

elsewhere Asian shares are holding

steady ahead of key US jobs figures

for October which are out later.

In the US - the Dow Jones closed

at another record high,

partly thanks to relief that

President Trump has chosen a safe

pair of hands to run

the Federal Reserve.

Up next - Newsbriefing -

we'll take you through the stories

making headlines in the global

media today including

The situation in Spain and the Fed..