:00:17. > :00:21.Hello and welcome to World Business Report. Jobs, taxes, healthcare and
:00:21. > :00:31.the deficit. The economic battleground is laid out in the
:00:31. > :00:35.
:00:35. > :00:39.battle for the White House. Japan's central bank is under
:00:39. > :00:43.pressure. The waiting game. Will Spain ask
:00:43. > :00:53.for help from the European Central Bank? Mario Draghi and his team
:00:53. > :00:59.
:00:59. > :01:04.The European Central Bank chief is likely to resist calls to cut
:01:04. > :01:08.interest rates today. The bank is holding its monthly meeting in
:01:08. > :01:13.Slavonia, amid signs the economic slump is deepening. But inflation
:01:13. > :01:19.is running well above target. That is limiting the ability to cut
:01:19. > :01:26.borrowing costs from the already record low of 0.75%. Now, he plans
:01:26. > :01:30.to support Spain 2 Unlimited bond buying is also in limbo. -- the
:01:30. > :01:35.plans. They will be plenty of fresh air
:01:35. > :01:39.for the ECB members at this conference centre just outside the
:01:39. > :01:43.Slovenian capital. But fresh moves to Tain borrowing costs for the
:01:43. > :01:47.likes of Spain have look unlikely this month. Unemployment and
:01:47. > :01:51.business prospects are poor in much of the eurozone and there are
:01:51. > :01:58.plenty of arguments for Mario Draghi to bring rates down below
:01:58. > :02:03.the current 0.75%. But most of the markets believe he will hold off
:02:03. > :02:08.moving one of the last policy levers available. With Greece's
:02:08. > :02:15.next bail-out in the balance and Spain's continued reluctance --
:02:15. > :02:19.reluctance to ask for help, the ECB is also in limbo. Germany's
:02:19. > :02:24.criticism and support for southern Europe has not helped. But it is
:02:24. > :02:31.the issue of European bonds that this adviser it says would be
:02:31. > :02:37.opposed, not BCB support. When the time comes. The German government
:02:37. > :02:43.has strict views on socialising European debt. -- the ECB. They
:02:43. > :02:53.will not prevent European bonds coming up. So Germany would
:02:53. > :02:53.
:02:53. > :02:58.actually help the other countries. It may allow the ECB to be more
:02:58. > :03:02.flexible and engage in some interventions. Meanwhile, the ECB
:03:02. > :03:08.may only repeat that while it is unable to make unlimited bond
:03:08. > :03:13.buyers, countries must ask and then meet the conditions.
:03:13. > :03:17.Once again, financial markets are watching central banks today. In
:03:17. > :03:21.Japan, the pressure is on the central bank to boost the economy
:03:21. > :03:26.with the new finance and economy ministers saying it needs to be
:03:26. > :03:34.more proactive. Let's go to Singapore now and drawing our
:03:34. > :03:44.correspondent. Last month when they met, they announced the move. --
:03:44. > :03:48.
:03:48. > :03:53.and join. It was a surprise move. The new
:03:53. > :03:58.finance minister and economy Policy Minister have been quite focal. He
:03:58. > :04:05.has been saying the Bank of Japan should do more in trying to tackle
:04:05. > :04:09.the issue of this strong currency as well as the weak economy. He
:04:09. > :04:14.says Japan should start buying foreign bonds in order to weaken
:04:14. > :04:20.the value of the Japanese yen, but as we have been reporting the yen
:04:20. > :04:26.has been hurting. Even though the Bank of Japan has been pouring a
:04:26. > :04:32.lot of money into the economy and has kept interest rates very low,
:04:32. > :04:35.it has not really worked to help the economy. Factory owners all say
:04:35. > :04:39.that cheap loans are great but it does not mean anything if they
:04:39. > :04:44.don't have enough businesses to borrow the money for. The strong
:04:44. > :04:49.yen is definitely the biggest headache that they currently have.
:04:49. > :04:53.Japan's central bank is a supposedly independent from global
:04:53. > :04:58.pressures. We will see what it decides to do later this week. If
:04:58. > :05:01.it decides to buy foreign bonds, the danger is that other central
:05:01. > :05:05.banks could do the same and it could become a battle between
:05:05. > :05:13.different central banks, on how to weaken their own economies.
:05:13. > :05:18.Thank you. That gives you a sense as to the central bank action today,
:05:18. > :05:23.which is very much the focus of financial markets. But let's not
:05:23. > :05:27.ignore the big debate that took place overnight. It was the first
:05:27. > :05:32.face to face debate of the US presidential battle. The territory
:05:32. > :05:38.up for grabs, domestic policy. There was no bigger domestic issue
:05:38. > :05:41.than the state of the economy. The conundrum, however, to restore
:05:41. > :05:46.growth and tackle stubborn unemployment and bring the deficit
:05:46. > :05:51.under control. President Obama became -- came under heavy attack
:05:51. > :05:57.over his economic record. We go to New York and join our correspondent.
:05:57. > :06:03.There was a lot of back and forth and a lot of time dedicated to
:06:03. > :06:08.taxes? Yes. Not the sexiest of subjects but a lot of time was
:06:08. > :06:13.spent going back and forth on this very issue. President Obama has
:06:13. > :06:19.been trying in this campaign, and this evening, to betraying it from
:06:19. > :06:23.me as somebody who would give tax cuts to the wealthy and put them up
:06:23. > :06:28.for the middle class. These are claims Mitt Romney strongly denied.
:06:28. > :06:36.The two got into a back and forth over this topic. Who mac for 18
:06:36. > :06:44.months, he has been running on this. -- for 18 months. Now, he says his
:06:44. > :06:49.idea is, never mind. The fact is, if you are lowering the rates the
:06:49. > :06:52.way you describe, it is not possible to come up with enough
:06:52. > :06:59.deductions that the only effect high-income individuals to avoid
:06:59. > :07:09.either raising the deficit or burden in the middle class. It is
:07:09. > :07:11.
:07:11. > :07:16.enough. It is arithmetic. -- burdening. It will be interesting
:07:16. > :07:21.to see what the American public take from that. Listening to him,
:07:21. > :07:30.it was interesting because from their answers, you could hear the
:07:30. > :07:36.clear differences in their ideology. Yes. It has been something that
:07:36. > :07:41.they have hinted at in the past, this choice, as President Obama
:07:41. > :07:48.characterised it, between Mitt Romney advocating a top-down
:07:48. > :07:54.economy, where the wealthiest in society are helped. But Mitt Romney
:07:54. > :07:58.has a different view. The path we have been on has been unsuccessful.
:07:58. > :08:03.The President's view is similar to that which we hit -- that which he
:08:03. > :08:10.had four is a good. The bigger government, taxing more, they are
:08:10. > :08:17.regulating all. That is not the right answer. We need to restore
:08:17. > :08:23.vitality. The choice for voters is between a government that allocates
:08:23. > :08:28.all of the assets or whether you think it should be the role of the
:08:28. > :08:33.free market. Thank you. We will discuss this even more when we look
:08:33. > :08:38.at the newspapers. Of course the debate is not in the papers but we
:08:38. > :08:44.will look at some of the reaction elsewhere. Shares at Hewlett-
:08:44. > :08:49.Packard have fallen to their lowest in a decade. Forecasts were lower-
:08:50. > :08:56.than-expected for next year. The D Day boss has warned investors it
:08:56. > :09:06.will take longer to write this ship than any of us would have liked. --
:09:06. > :09:07.
:09:07. > :09:15.eBay. India's Aviation regulator will submit a report about
:09:15. > :09:23.Kingfisher Airlines. They called it a complete paralysis of operations.
:09:23. > :09:33.India's number two airline one year ago has huge depth and has not paid
:09:33. > :09:39.
:09:39. > :09:44.staff for some two months. -- debts. In the market, central banks -- the
:09:44. > :09:50.story is about what central banks will or will not do. Currencies are
:09:50. > :09:55.very much on the move. The yen is week ahead of the two a meeting.