:00:05. > :00:15.in the fight against terrorism. Now it is time for World Business
:00:15. > :00:19.
:00:20. > :00:23.Report. Hello, and a very warm welcome. The
:00:23. > :00:27.headlines: It market nerves ahead of a ten-year bond auction in Spain,
:00:27. > :00:32.seen as a vital test of investor confidence.
:00:32. > :00:36.And here in Asia, a sharp rebound in Japan's exports, thanks to a
:00:36. > :00:40.surge in car shipments. Plus, the numbers keep getting
:00:40. > :00:50.worse for Nokia, as it is left further behind by the smartphone
:00:50. > :00:50.
:00:50. > :00:55.boom. Good to have the reverse. Will
:00:55. > :00:59.Spain become the next eurozone country to be forced into and the
:00:59. > :01:03.EU-IMF bail out? For some, the question is not if, but when.
:01:03. > :01:06.Increasing market nerves about Spain's ability to control its
:01:06. > :01:11.finances amid a worsening economy pushed the country's ten-year
:01:11. > :01:17.borrowing costs about 6% this week, approaching the levels that forced
:01:17. > :01:21.Portugal, Greece and Ireland to seek aid.... Some of it in ten-year
:01:21. > :01:28.bonds which are seen as a key test of investor confidence. To tell us
:01:28. > :01:32.how this is likely to go, I enjoyed by Bill blame. Today is quite
:01:32. > :01:37.critical, isn't it? In terms of measuring the sentiment about
:01:37. > :01:40.Spain? Today's auction is fairly small for Spain, but I think it
:01:40. > :01:45.will give us a good indication of what is going to happen long time.
:01:45. > :01:48.I am afraid that if this goes on and on and on, the problem for
:01:48. > :01:53.Spain will be the banks. The banks have invested so much in the
:01:53. > :01:57.property bubble, and they need to be recapitalised. For Spain to
:01:57. > :02:01.recapitalis recapitalis need to find more money, which I suspect,
:02:01. > :02:07.long-term, means they go to the drone mac bail out fund for that.
:02:07. > :02:11.But the trigger for that could be knocked down the road. Some are
:02:11. > :02:14.saying that Spain might not necessarily need a bail out in the
:02:14. > :02:18.terms of Greece, Ireland, Portugal in the near future, but they may do
:02:18. > :02:23.something to rescue the Spanish banks? Absolutely, I think that is
:02:23. > :02:26.the most likely thing. If Spain does resort to the bail out fund,
:02:26. > :02:30.it would be something specifically linked to the banks which would
:02:30. > :02:33.give the illusion that there is nothing wrong with Spain itself.
:02:33. > :02:38.terms of the longer term refinancing operation by the
:02:38. > :02:42.European Central Bank, that was be, the second round of that was in
:02:42. > :02:47.February, there was a huge take-up of that. Will that help today at
:02:47. > :02:53.all, or is the impact of VAT fading? No, I'm afraid the literal
:02:53. > :02:56.effect is very much done and dusted. When the first one announced it had
:02:56. > :03:00.an aspect of shock and awe, and that gave the opportunity for
:03:00. > :03:04.investors to look and see, well, bombs were going to rise on the
:03:04. > :03:07.back of that. They all piled into that rally and now it is very much
:03:07. > :03:11.over. I think if they did a third on the effect would be very much
:03:11. > :03:16.less. Also today, France is looking to raise of what on the bond
:03:16. > :03:20.markets. A significant amount, actually. For investors it is not
:03:20. > :03:23.really clear what is a head for France be there? I think the French
:03:23. > :03:27.auction today is probably the more interesting one. On the weekend we
:03:27. > :03:30.have the first round of the French presidential election, and the
:03:30. > :03:34.markets are beginning to get a bit nervous about what a change in the
:03:34. > :03:38.French government is going to mean. I suspect that all those French
:03:38. > :03:42.rates have started to edge up in the last few days, which will
:03:42. > :03:48.probably make today's auction quite attractive, we are likely to see
:03:48. > :03:52.French government bond yields rise in the next couple of weeks.
:03:52. > :03:55.Possibly even around today's auction. As people get more and
:03:55. > :03:59.more concerned about the new French government, and the end of the
:03:59. > :04:03.Sarkozy era, we will see French bond yields rise, and that reflects
:04:03. > :04:06.fear not just about the future of Europe when you do not have such a
:04:06. > :04:09.close link between Germany and France, but also where France is
:04:09. > :04:16.going to go in trying to make the structural adjustments that never
:04:16. > :04:20.happened under Sarkozy. Thank you for your perspective on
:04:20. > :04:22.that. We will talk some more about the French elections as well to
:04:22. > :04:27.date in the newspaper reviews, because it is of course the big
:04:27. > :04:34.story in the French press. March saw the first rise in
:04:34. > :04:39.Japanese exports in six months. Tell us more about Japan? This is
:04:39. > :04:44.good news, isn't it? Indeed, and it is in fact the
:04:44. > :04:48.strongest growth in over a year. Exports rose nearly 6% in the month
:04:48. > :04:53.of March from that Lovell's one year ago, which is much stronger
:04:53. > :04:59.than what economists were expecting. -- that levels. It is largely due
:04:59. > :05:02.to a surge in car shipments, which rose 1/3 in March. Exporters also
:05:02. > :05:06.benefited from the Japanese yen, which has been weakening quite
:05:06. > :05:10.significantly in recent months. The Japanese yen actually jumped soon
:05:10. > :05:16.after the trade data came out, but it is still trading at 81 against
:05:16. > :05:20.the US dollar, which is much weaker compared to the 77 or 78 which we
:05:20. > :05:24.saw for nearly a year after the earthquake. I should also mention
:05:25. > :05:29.imports, which rose nearly 10% in the Mont of March. That is because
:05:29. > :05:33.Japan is now having to import a lot more liquified natural gas and
:05:34. > :05:37.other fuels in order to supply electricity. Of course, almost all
:05:38. > :05:44.of its nuclear power plants have been shut in the wake of Fukushima.
:05:44. > :05:52.The government has been negotiating with local bomb-makers, as well as
:05:52. > :05:57.the government, to restart nuclear power plants. -- local lawmakers.
:05:57. > :05:59.Nokia, for years the world's leader in mobile phone handsets, brings
:05:59. > :06:04.out its first quarter results for 2012 later. They are expected to
:06:04. > :06:08.bring more bad news. The company issued a profits fall last week and
:06:08. > :06:12.just a few days ago had its credit rating cut to just a notch above
:06:12. > :06:16.junk status. It's not phones had been selling poorly compared to the
:06:16. > :06:24.iPhone and Android, and it is starting to lose the market share
:06:24. > :06:29.I am so excited and proud. So set Nokia's boss as it launched its
:06:29. > :06:33.latest smartphone. But Nokia sold only 2 million smartphone handsets
:06:33. > :06:39.over the past six months, much lower than the forecast 3 million.
:06:39. > :06:43.In the West, Nokia has a market share of any 1%. The crucial
:06:43. > :06:47.customers for not yet to win over other mobile operators. In Europe
:06:47. > :06:51.and America, they sold two-thirds of all the handsets produced, in
:06:51. > :06:54.their shops - along with contracts. The operators had been looking
:06:54. > :06:57.forward to Nokia bringing out its new smartphone, because they
:06:57. > :07:04.thought that it would reduce the dominance in the market of the key
:07:04. > :07:07.players. That is appalled's iPhone, and Samsung's Android.
:07:07. > :07:15.Unfortunately, too few people are walking into the shops and asking
:07:15. > :07:20.to look at a Nokia smartphone. nutshell, they are too expensive.
:07:20. > :07:25.It is just too rich for the competitive pricing market,
:07:25. > :07:28.especially in the US. Unless your brand happens to be apple mac.
:07:28. > :07:34.some years, Nokia has dominated the low end of the market, selling
:07:34. > :07:40.simple phones. But cheaper handsets, especially Chinese ones, hitting
:07:40. > :07:46.its sales. So Nokia is looking to develop a middle ground. They are
:07:46. > :07:50.pushing their own operating system. A range of devices that are not as
:07:50. > :07:57.expensive as the low-cost smartphones, even Android have not
:07:57. > :08:01.got an down to this price. Yet, but they offer an element of smarts.
:08:01. > :08:06.But Nokia's handset sales have fallen 30% in the last year. They
:08:06. > :08:12.are hoping the slim segment of the market will make good on that loss.
:08:12. > :08:15.It was awesome! Nokia executives are desperate that this year, high-
:08:15. > :08:21.margin smartphones grab the attention of the all-important
:08:21. > :08:25.American market. Did you hear what he had to say
:08:25. > :08:29.they? It was quite loud. Let's take a look at some other business
:08:29. > :08:32.headlines today. Shares in Eade Bay jumped more than 8% in after-hours
:08:32. > :08:42.trading after better-than-expected first-quarter results from the
:08:42. > :08:56.
:08:56. > :09:02.online auction giant. -- the day. - - eBay. And... Yum Brands is
:09:02. > :09:07.continuing to cash in on a growing middle class in China and India. It
:09:07. > :09:10.has helped shares jumped 45% in the last year. And Germany's top
:09:10. > :09:13.economic think tanks give their growth forecasts later. They are
:09:13. > :09:18.likely to underline the growing gulf between struggling southern
:09:18. > :09:21.Europe and the region's biggest economy. According to Dow-Jones,
:09:21. > :09:28.they will upgrade their estimates for Germany 2.9 % growth for this
:09:28. > :09:33.year, and then 2% next year. Markets today, treading water in
:09:33. > :09:40.Asia ahead of that auction of bonds in Spain and France. You can see
:09:40. > :09:44.the currencies as well. The yen, as mentioned earlier, has been gaining