Browse content similar to 01/05/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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News. Now for the latest financial news. | :00:00. | :00:17. | |
A new record for the Dow as the Federal Reserve reassures investors. | :00:18. | :00:24. | |
Plus, a sticky dispute over the King of Fruit. Why EU`India trade | :00:25. | :00:34. | |
relations are souring over mangoes. Welcome to World Business Report. | :00:35. | :00:41. | |
I'm Alice Baxter. In a moment, upgrading Brazil's creaking | :00:42. | :00:44. | |
infrastructure. The latest in our week`long series on challenges | :00:45. | :00:58. | |
facing the country's economy. We start on Wall Street, where stocks | :00:59. | :01:01. | |
have hit a new record high. Despite disappointing news on the US | :01:02. | :01:04. | |
economy, and a further cut in stimulus measures by the Federal | :01:05. | :01:07. | |
Reserve. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at an all`time high | :01:08. | :01:13. | |
of 16,580.84. That means it has wiped out all the losses from the | :01:14. | :01:16. | |
market turmoil earlier this year, and beaten its previous record set | :01:17. | :01:20. | |
on the last day of 2013. Well, traders actually started the day in | :01:21. | :01:23. | |
the mood to sell after really disappointing economic news. Initial | :01:24. | :01:29. | |
figures showed US growth all but ground to halt between January and | :01:30. | :01:32. | |
March, because of harsh winter weather. The Federal Reserve didn't | :01:33. | :01:44. | |
seem worried though. It cut its economic stimulus programme by | :01:45. | :01:46. | |
another $10 billion, to $45 billion dollars a month. Saying growth "has | :01:47. | :01:51. | |
picked up recently" after the sharp winter slowdown. But it hinted that | :01:52. | :01:54. | |
interest rates will stay low for some time. That sent the dollar | :01:55. | :01:57. | |
falling and US stocks rising. The S 500 index is also just 0.4 per | :01:58. | :02:01. | |
cent from a new record. Let's see how Asian markets are faring. How | :02:02. | :02:15. | |
are they reacting? As you can imagine, the Dow is closing at a | :02:16. | :02:23. | |
record high, it is lifting some of the markets that are open here, | :02:24. | :02:27. | |
particularly Japan's currency, you are seeing that a lot higher | :02:28. | :02:29. | |
following those upbeat statements from the US Federal reserve, about | :02:30. | :02:31. | |
the outlook for the US economy, even though growth numbers were fairly | :02:32. | :02:33. | |
weak, they were backward looking, essentially due to bad weather. Many | :02:34. | :02:36. | |
investors here basically shrugging that. The US remains an important | :02:37. | :02:41. | |
market for many in the economy, any sign of a positive outlook there | :02:42. | :02:46. | |
will always good for a lift to stocks here. Other markets were not | :02:47. | :02:51. | |
as positive, there was data in China which missed forecasts, Labour Day | :02:52. | :03:00. | |
markets are closed in places like China, Hong Kong, South Korea and | :03:01. | :03:08. | |
Taiwan as well. There was not too much reaction to Beijing's | :03:09. | :03:13. | |
manufacturing measure, it came in at 15.4 in April, up slightly from | :03:14. | :03:18. | |
March, but it was below the forecast at 50.5. It had something of a small | :03:19. | :03:22. | |
impact on Australia's mining shares. Many export to China to feed what | :03:23. | :03:27. | |
had been a voracious appetite for resources there. We know that China | :03:28. | :03:31. | |
is beginning to slow as well. Thank you. Now from the stock market to | :03:32. | :03:37. | |
the fruit market ` and a rather sticky dispute. Indian Alphonso | :03:38. | :03:46. | |
mangoes are known as the King of Fruit, but from today they are | :03:47. | :03:49. | |
banned from the EU after authorities in Brussels found some consignments | :03:50. | :03:53. | |
infested with fruit flies. India says it has already addressed the | :03:54. | :03:56. | |
problem, but the row has sent the price of the fruit falling sharply | :03:57. | :03:59. | |
in its home market. The BBC's Simon Atkinson starts his report about | :04:00. | :04:06. | |
100km north`east of Mumbai. Across India, tens of thousands of | :04:07. | :04:12. | |
people do this job. Picking mangoes is tough work. This season is short | :04:13. | :04:16. | |
and there is a few weeks to harvest the fruit, and get it out to the | :04:17. | :04:20. | |
customer. More than half of the worlds mangoes are grown here in | :04:21. | :04:24. | |
India. At the moment, just a small fraction of them are sent overseas | :04:25. | :04:27. | |
for sale. Of those expert markets, Europe is one of the most | :04:28. | :04:32. | |
important. Now, it has a new challenge. Last year, pests like | :04:33. | :04:41. | |
fruit fly is similar to these were found in more than 200 shipments of | :04:42. | :04:44. | |
fruit and vegetables sent to Europe from India. Because of the risk | :04:45. | :04:46. | |
their prose to crops, the European Union has now banned products, | :04:47. | :04:53. | |
including mangoes. For farmers, things are located now, most have | :04:54. | :04:57. | |
contracts for this year, but the surplus fruit is a logistical and | :04:58. | :05:01. | |
financial nightmare for wholesalers like this one. It specialises in | :05:02. | :05:04. | |
Alphonso mangoes, the so`called King of fruit and the type most in demand | :05:05. | :05:11. | |
in Europe. TRANSLATION: We are hoping if we can't export to the EU, | :05:12. | :05:15. | |
we will find another country to buy them, maybe the USA or the Gulf. | :05:16. | :05:20. | |
India is self has a lot of buyers, but because there are many extra | :05:21. | :05:23. | |
mangoes, the price in the markets is falling fast. The EU says less than | :05:24. | :05:30. | |
5% of Indian producers affected by the band. For this British importer, | :05:31. | :05:36. | |
that is little consolation. It relies on these mangoes to sell at a | :05:37. | :05:39. | |
premium so it can get through the quieter months. Australia, New | :05:40. | :05:45. | |
Zealand, Japan, they all allow the import of these products even though | :05:46. | :05:48. | |
they are known to have strict borders for agriculture. They need | :05:49. | :05:53. | |
to come up with treatments, which they will do. They should do that | :05:54. | :05:58. | |
rather than put in place a ban. The EU was in talks with Indian | :05:59. | :06:01. | |
authorities and if it is satisfied the produce is saved, it says the | :06:02. | :06:05. | |
ban will be lifted in plenty of time for the next mango season. With | :06:06. | :06:11. | |
realistic prospects, a more immediate solution, that is a | :06:12. | :06:15. | |
prospect that more mango farmers would rather pick. | :06:16. | :06:22. | |
When Brazil won the right to host the World Cup, promises were made to | :06:23. | :06:26. | |
overhaul its major infrastructure. But seven years on and progress has | :06:27. | :06:31. | |
moved at incredibly slow speed. As part of our week`long series on | :06:32. | :06:34. | |
Brazil's economy, Katy Watson reports from Brazil's biggest port, | :06:35. | :06:39. | |
Santos. This man draws fire was sons of | :06:40. | :06:44. | |
kilometres across Brazil each week to deliver soya beans to Santos. | :06:45. | :06:47. | |
Last year was terrible, there were queues outside of the port that | :06:48. | :06:53. | |
lasted days. This year, it is different. But life can still be | :06:54. | :06:58. | |
tough. `` this man drives thousands of miles. TRANSLATION: There were a | :06:59. | :07:03. | |
lot of trucks on the road that caused huge traffic jams. There are | :07:04. | :07:06. | |
no toilets, places to eat, and robberies on the roads as well. | :07:07. | :07:10. | |
Brazil's infrastructure problems are well known. Not only rose, but | :07:11. | :07:17. | |
airports as well. And harbours. They all need upgrading `` roads. 1.5% of | :07:18. | :07:23. | |
GDP is spent on infrastructure here. The global average is twice | :07:24. | :07:28. | |
that. The past ten years has seen huge economic growth here. | :07:29. | :07:30. | |
Agricultural production has soared and Brazil is one of the biggest | :07:31. | :07:36. | |
exporters of soy, copy, and sugar, which is being loaded on behind me. | :07:37. | :07:43. | |
`` coffee. At the same time, Brazilians are becoming more | :07:44. | :07:47. | |
affluent. This port moved hundred and 50 million tons of goods last | :07:48. | :07:51. | |
year and it wants to double that number in the next decade. They are | :07:52. | :07:54. | |
ambitious numbers but will not be recognised and is infrastructure is | :07:55. | :07:59. | |
Boston improved. Traditionally opposed to infrastructure and | :08:00. | :08:02. | |
investment, Brazil's government has realised that without it, the | :08:03. | :08:04. | |
economy which is slowing, will suffer. `` is quickly improved. It | :08:05. | :08:15. | |
is still early days. The man in charge of Sant says there needs to | :08:16. | :08:23. | |
be new priorities. TRANSLATION: We have space to grow, we have | :08:24. | :08:26. | |
terminals that can still be developed, but we do not have | :08:27. | :08:31. | |
access. We can encourage railway investments. Most transports come by | :08:32. | :08:37. | |
road. Industry experts are not impressed. Delays to promised | :08:38. | :08:44. | |
projects, and huge costs. TRANSLATION: The World Cup was an | :08:45. | :08:49. | |
excuse to do a series of investments in the country. We need investments, | :08:50. | :08:54. | |
independent of the World Cup. It is an event that lasts only a month, | :08:55. | :08:59. | |
there is so much planning that everything is left to the last | :09:00. | :09:02. | |
minute and because of that, we always end up paying far more. | :09:03. | :09:09. | |
Promises to upgrade infrastructure were made when Brazil was growing | :09:10. | :09:13. | |
strong, but now, they are being delivered in a different | :09:14. | :09:17. | |
environment. Work has to continue to keep economic wheels turning. | :09:18. | :09:26. | |
Time for some other news, the boss of General Electric has had talks | :09:27. | :09:32. | |
with the French government about a takeover of engineering firm Alstom | :09:33. | :09:37. | |
have been "productive". Jeff Immelt expressed confidence the deal will | :09:38. | :09:40. | |
go ahead despite a potential rival offer from Germany's Siemens. | :09:41. | :09:42. | |
Earlier on Wednesday Alstom said it would review the offer from GE for | :09:43. | :09:46. | |
its energy business by the end of May but left the door open for a | :09:47. | :09:49. | |
competing bid from Siemens. Shares of Twitter have slumped to their | :09:50. | :09:52. | |
lowest level since the company's Wall Street debut back in November | :09:53. | :09:55. | |
after the company added fewer new users than expected. The stock | :09:56. | :09:57. | |
closed down 8.6% to $38.97. Though still above its initial public | :09:58. | :10:00. | |
offering price of $26, Twitter has lost nearly half its value since its | :10:01. | :10:02. | |
peak in | :10:03. | :10:04. |