:00:14. > :00:20.-- a number of. Now for the latest A warm welcome, you are with World
:00:20. > :00:24.Business Report. These are the headlines: Italy will try to raise
:00:24. > :00:31.EUR5 billion today in the face of evaporating investor confidence in
:00:31. > :00:37.the country. Contagion fears, age and stocks are down sharply because
:00:37. > :00:41.of travels in Italy. -- Asian stocks. And life after the bail-out.
:00:41. > :00:51.Strikes, austerity in Portugal as it tries to cling to European
:00:51. > :00:52.
:00:52. > :00:56.Good to have you with us. Later today Italy will try to auction
:00:56. > :01:02.EUR5 billion worth of government bonds in the face of fast
:01:02. > :01:05.evaporating investor confidence. Wednesday's deep falls on global
:01:05. > :01:10.stock markets and the worst day for the euro in more than a year is
:01:10. > :01:15.testament to the level of fear now about the eurozone debt crisis. The
:01:15. > :01:19.trigger... another surge in the borrowing costs faced by Italy with
:01:19. > :01:24.over two trillion dollars of debt, it is seen by many as too big to
:01:24. > :01:29.fail but too big to bail out. In a moment we will have the latest on
:01:29. > :01:34.the Asian markets where the sell- off is continuing. But first, this
:01:35. > :01:38.from Nigel Cassidy. It is coming to the crunch. Italy's
:01:38. > :01:43.been paying more to borrow than Ireland, Greece and Portugal before
:01:43. > :01:47.they were bailed out. If it turns out the commercial buyers don't
:01:47. > :01:51.want Italy's paper, Silvio Berlusconi will be forced to seek
:01:51. > :01:56.aid from the International Monetary Fund and the EU. Something he has
:01:56. > :02:00.set himself against. Italy's lenders push up loans because they
:02:00. > :02:04.don't believe the European Central Bank is backing the country by
:02:04. > :02:13.buying another of its bombs. There is little faith in Italy's ability
:02:13. > :02:17.to deliver on promised austerity measures. This City of London firm
:02:17. > :02:22.analyses risks and they think there is a 65% tranche of both Italy and
:02:22. > :02:29.Greece defaulting by the end of November -- 65% chance. They say
:02:29. > :02:33.euros a leaders are much more likely to be cut by the crisis --
:02:33. > :02:37.eurozone leaders. Italy needs to be able to demonstrate to those
:02:37. > :02:43.creditors that the money they are given will be refunded. There are
:02:43. > :02:49.clear doubts, that is why we have so many problems. If Italy cannot
:02:49. > :02:54.sell those debts, we suspect, the probability we have put on it is
:02:54. > :03:02.65% that markets will say, "We're not happy to hold onto Italian
:03:02. > :03:07.paper any more". Italy may be able to sell its sponsors today at a
:03:07. > :03:14.cut-price. But how will they roll over its longer-dated bonds in
:03:14. > :03:19.early 2012 and raise the billions it needs to stay afloat.
:03:19. > :03:27.Now in Singapore, how are the market's trading? Rico, not
:03:27. > :03:32.surprisingly it has been a tough session. Indeed. It hasn't been a
:03:32. > :03:40.good day for Asian investors. All markets are in the red. The Nikkei
:03:40. > :03:45.is down 3% as well as Australia. Hang Seng is down about 4.5%, while
:03:45. > :03:49.South Korea's market is giving back about 4%. Asian investors are very
:03:49. > :03:52.concerned about what's happening in Italy, which is of course a much
:03:52. > :03:57.bigger economy than Greece, which has been at the centre of this
:03:57. > :04:04.crisis in Europe. Analysts say market volatility will be here to
:04:04. > :04:09.stay. Markets have been very volatile over the last few weeks.
:04:09. > :04:15.Also Asian investors have been divesting other economic data,
:04:15. > :04:18.weaker than expected machinery orders from Japan is a problem --
:04:18. > :04:26.by jesting. China's trade figures are confirming exports from there
:04:26. > :04:31.have been slowing though that -- so that is a problem. Chris Dean
:04:31. > :04:36.Lagarde, head of the IMF, is still in China. -- Christine Lagarde. She
:04:36. > :04:41.is trying to get support for the beleaguered eurozone economies. She
:04:41. > :04:46.is holding a press conference in an hour, any big announcements?
:04:46. > :04:50.don't know. Everyone in Europe is hoping she will come out and say
:04:50. > :04:58.China has agreed to save Europe from this debt crisis. However
:04:58. > :05:02.China has been quite reluctant to say what they are going to do. But
:05:02. > :05:06.from the Chief of the IMF, the statements have been pessimistic.
:05:06. > :05:11.Saying that the world economy could be heading towards a lost decade.
:05:11. > :05:15.She said that Asia is not immune to what's happening in Europe. She is
:05:15. > :05:22.heading to Japan, who have been buying a lot of Bonn's from Europe,
:05:22. > :05:26.where she will be seeking more support. Thank you for joining us.
:05:26. > :05:30.From fears about Italy now to the struggles of a country that's
:05:30. > :05:34.already been bailed out. Portugal's parliament is set to debate a
:05:34. > :05:40.budget for next year later which is seen by many as the severest
:05:40. > :05:45.austerity package in its history. It is trying to renegotiate the
:05:45. > :05:50.terms of its 17 billion dollar bail-out. On Wednesday, the head of
:05:50. > :05:54.the euro group of finance ministers, he was in Lisbon and he tried to
:05:54. > :05:57.reassure the Portuguese that Brussels is behind them.
:05:57. > :06:04.Portuguese should not have the impression that they are totally
:06:04. > :06:09.isolated in Europe and they will be left alone. There is no euro
:06:09. > :06:14.without them. There will never be a euro without Portugal. Let's speak
:06:14. > :06:19.to Allison Roberts, who is in Lisburn. Allison, he's doing his
:06:19. > :06:24.best to reassure the Portuguese, did it work? The comments were seen
:06:24. > :06:28.as helpful here. However the Portuguese are under no illusions
:06:28. > :06:34.as to the degree of austerity they are facing. It was significant that
:06:34. > :06:38.yesterday both the Prime Minister and John Pierre said there was no
:06:38. > :06:43.attempt or no need on the part of Portugal to renegotiate the deal in
:06:43. > :06:46.terms of getting more money. That is rolling back a bit from
:06:46. > :06:50.government comments earlier saying they were looking to readjust and
:06:50. > :06:53.now they're saying there are just technical details as a team of
:06:53. > :06:57.senior officials from the European Central Bank and International
:06:57. > :07:01.Monetary Fund are in Lisbon now, they are here for a couple of weeks,
:07:01. > :07:05.and they are going over all the details of the programme. Apart
:07:05. > :07:10.from anything else, they have to decide whether to hand over the
:07:10. > :07:14.next part of the bail-out, which has already been agreed. What about
:07:14. > :07:21.the next budget for next year which they will begin to debate in
:07:21. > :07:25.parliament today. What is in it? The cuts are deeper than what was
:07:25. > :07:32.agreed by the international lenders. In part because Portugal wants to
:07:32. > :07:38.show that it is demarcating itself from Greece. It does not that
:07:38. > :07:43.everybody here is talking about. The most controversial measure has
:07:43. > :07:48.been the removal of holiday and Christmas pay for most public
:07:48. > :07:52.sector employees and many state pensioners. That is a one-seventh
:07:52. > :07:55.cut in annual income. That is deeper than many people expected.
:07:55. > :08:01.Many tax rises and other spending cuts that will affect everybody
:08:01. > :08:05.here. Briefly, it will be very difficult to implement?
:08:05. > :08:08.government has a majority in parliament but there is resistance.
:08:08. > :08:13.There will be a demonstration outside the parliament building
:08:13. > :08:16.during the debate and there will be a general strike later this month.
:08:16. > :08:19.Implementation will be very difficult indeed. Thank you for
:08:19. > :08:24.joining us. China's feeling the effects of a weakening global
:08:24. > :08:28.economy according to their latest figures. Export growth was the
:08:28. > :08:33.weakest in eight months in October and close to the levels seen in
:08:33. > :08:37.2009 when exports actually shrank. Exports surged suggesting that the
:08:37. > :08:42.country's attempts to rebalance the economy towards domestic demand are
:08:42. > :08:48.working. The Bank of England will wrap up its monthly meeting later
:08:48. > :08:53.and it is widely expected to leave interest rates at 0.5%. Last month
:08:53. > :09:00.the bank expanded its �200 billion programme of quantitative easing,
:09:00. > :09:04.many economists think that the banks will have to pump more money
:09:04. > :09:08.into the UK economy soon. In a few hours James Murdoch will answer
:09:08. > :09:11.questions on phone hacking for a second time in front of Parliament.
:09:12. > :09:19.It will be the first time he will be questioned about widespread
:09:19. > :09:24.surveillance of public figures by the News of the World. In Asia, as
:09:24. > :09:30.was said, a very tricky session. The news about Chinese exports been
:09:30. > :09:34.lower did not help either. Also Japanese manufacturing orders are
:09:34. > :09:39.lower as well. Or factory orders I should say. The Japanese production
:09:39. > :09:44.line is slowing as well because of the impact of what is happening in