:00:00. > :00:18.The bidders are gathering, but who will walk away with the price?
:00:19. > :00:22.The bidders are gathering, but who will walk away with the prize?
:00:23. > :00:25.And America's big investment banks are revealing they're experiencing
:00:26. > :00:29.a tough time so what will Goldman Sachs say later, we get
:00:30. > :00:45.Global miner Rio Tinto cuts its iron ore
:00:46. > :00:55.But it has done rather well this year.
:00:56. > :00:59.Yahoo reports its latest results but investors aren't exactly
:01:00. > :01:07.What they want to know is what's happening to the company,
:01:08. > :01:09.whether it'll sell its core business and to whom.
:01:10. > :01:11.Despite its huge losses, the firm remains
:01:12. > :01:13.an attractive target thanks to its stake in China's e-commerce giant
:01:14. > :01:30.I've used Yahoo since 2001, it's fine, I've had no problems with it.
:01:31. > :01:34.I think I just use it because it's easier and familiar. I would be sad
:01:35. > :01:39.if Yahoo wasn't around, it's like an old friend, you know? But the
:01:40. > :01:43.company is struggling financially. Take a look at its share price,
:01:44. > :01:47.investors really haven't been happy with the company performance until
:01:48. > :01:52.in February Yahoo announced it is open to selling its core business.
:01:53. > :01:57.Since then its share price has risen by some 30%. Yahoo management is
:01:58. > :02:01.feeling pressure from their shareholders to pursue a possible
:02:02. > :02:08.course of sale. This current management team has had three years
:02:09. > :02:11., spent billions of dollars in acquisitions and revenue will
:02:12. > :02:16.decline by double digits in this quarter. So who is interested in
:02:17. > :02:20.buying Yahoo? There are reportedly dozens of companies, including US
:02:21. > :02:27.telecom giant horizon. Its bigger rival Google. And the owner of the
:02:28. > :02:32.British newspaper Daily Mail. A big part of what makes Yahoo appealing
:02:33. > :02:38.to buyers is its stake in China's e-commerce giant Alibaba. Its stake
:02:39. > :02:42.is worth $30 billion, much more than Yahoo's core business. But the
:02:43. > :02:46.popularity of its search engine is also attractive to those who think
:02:47. > :02:50.they can do a better job of making money from the Internet business.
:02:51. > :02:59.We will keep you up to date today as it progresses with Yahoo's results
:03:00. > :03:01.and any confirmation of bits coming in, who's interested etc.
:03:02. > :03:04.Today we'll hear more about the health
:03:05. > :03:07.of the US banking sector as another of the giants Goldman Sachs
:03:08. > :03:10.tells investors how the first few months of the year have been.
:03:11. > :03:12.Yesterday Morgan Stanley revealed its profits more than halved
:03:13. > :03:16.in the first three months of the year as a result of what it called
:03:17. > :03:20.The first quarter is usually the busiest time of the year
:03:21. > :03:22.for Wall Street, as money managers return from holidays eager to put
:03:23. > :03:26.But at the start of this year the crazy volatility
:03:27. > :03:29.experienced on global markets kept them on the sidelines.
:03:30. > :03:35.Plus low commodity prices, notably oil, has also hit
:03:36. > :03:43.With me is Chris Wheeler, banks analyst at Atlantic Equities.
:03:44. > :03:51.He can give us a perspective on this. Lovely to see you. Morning.
:03:52. > :03:57.Goldman, what's it going to say? Earnings down about 60%,
:03:58. > :04:03.year-on-year, not too dissimilar to Morgan Stanley -- 16%. Issues of
:04:04. > :04:07.equity and debt, normally a big part of the early part of the year, hit
:04:08. > :04:10.by the volatility. They have big private equity stakes
:04:11. > :04:16.which they have to mark down because a lot were based in Asia, and Asian
:04:17. > :04:19.markets were particularly weak. All in all a very tough quarter.
:04:20. > :04:24.Interestingly all the banks, Goldman is one of the last big ones to
:04:25. > :04:29.report, they've all come out with similar stories but they managed
:04:30. > :04:33.expectations so well that they beat expectations with shares going up.
:04:34. > :04:36.Explain that for us, because the results aren't good at all? The
:04:37. > :04:40.banks have been talking this down aggressively, but to be fair they
:04:41. > :04:44.have to stop talking to us in early March because they go into a closed
:04:45. > :04:49.period. Having said that, March was a better month. January and February
:04:50. > :04:53.were very volatile. But they have a tactic. If you look at the overall
:04:54. > :04:57.performance of the bank stocks in the first quarter, most are still
:04:58. > :05:01.down substantially. What now? Because they've made a lot less at
:05:02. > :05:04.their busiest time of year, are they going to have to cut back and lay
:05:05. > :05:11.people off those yellow looking at all the large banks, they have big
:05:12. > :05:16.retail banking asset management businesses. They are pumping along
:05:17. > :05:19.well. For the investment banking arms of those businesses, like
:05:20. > :05:23.Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, who are focused in that area, it is
:05:24. > :05:29.tough because they won't make up the normal first quarter if you want
:05:30. > :05:32.surge of activity unless we have something extraordinary happened in
:05:33. > :05:37.the second half of the year. It's not just the US banks, it's all of
:05:38. > :05:43.them. We had an announcement from new mirror closing down its... Some
:05:44. > :05:46.drastic action being taken. One of my clients asked if we would see
:05:47. > :05:52.more consolidation in the investment banking space, but people are
:05:53. > :05:55.actually withdrawing. Since the crisis the amount of capital you now
:05:56. > :06:00.need quite rightly has been pushed up, making a lot of areas of the
:06:01. > :06:03.business a lot less profitable than before. People are taking some
:06:04. > :06:07.pretty tough decisions. We appreciate your time, a busy time of
:06:08. > :06:10.year for you so we will let you go. The world's second largest iron ore
:06:11. > :06:17.producer, Rio Tinto, has cut its But it has seen an 11% rise
:06:18. > :06:21.in shipments so far this year. So how is Rio doing amidst
:06:22. > :06:24.the commodity slump? Rico Hizon is in our
:06:25. > :06:39.Asia Business Hub in Singapore. Lovely to see you, Rico. Tell us
:06:40. > :06:43.more about Rio's situation at the moment. If you look at the situation
:06:44. > :06:49.right now in the iron ore business, it goes to show the big players such
:06:50. > :06:54.as Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton are indeed very resilient given the
:06:55. > :06:58.challenges of the slowdown in the Chinese economy. The world's number
:06:59. > :07:06.two iron or producer confirming it was on track for a record 315
:07:07. > :07:10.million tons in 2016 as it runs its mines at full tilt despite this
:07:11. > :07:15.global supply glut due to slower Chinese industrial growth. The
:07:16. > :07:23.production increases show the outgoing Chief Executive, they are
:07:24. > :07:29.determined to deny calls for supply restraints until markets are in
:07:30. > :07:36.better balance. He defended running at maximum speed as the steel mills
:07:37. > :07:45.demand slowed, saying contain one would fill the void for
:07:46. > :07:49.competitors. They are continuing their goal despite the oversupply
:07:50. > :07:54.issue. Before you go, what did the central bank decide to do in South
:07:55. > :07:59.Korea? They did nothing. They decided to keep interest rates
:08:00. > :08:05.untouched at 1.5%. The central bank governor stressed the current state
:08:06. > :08:09.of the current rate levels support economic growth, but a lower growth
:08:10. > :08:14.forecast for this year kept expectations of a rate cut alive and
:08:15. > :08:17.the decision to leave rates on hold follows seven successive cuts. You
:08:18. > :08:20.had the fallout from a parliamentary election earlier this month and the
:08:21. > :08:26.effects of measures in other economies are factors towards this
:08:27. > :08:28.decision to keep rates on hold. Thank you, Rico, good to see you.
:08:29. > :08:33.Argentina's return to the... with a sale of sovereign bonds
:08:34. > :08:37.after 15 years of exile The country is raising up to 15
:08:38. > :08:42.billion dollars and demand for the bond issue was strong and attracted
:08:43. > :08:45.orders worth $65 billion. Some of the money will go to
:08:46. > :08:48.repaying bondholders who for years opposed the terms
:08:49. > :08:50.of Argentina's debt restructuring Netflix shares fell more than 9% in
:08:51. > :08:55.after-hours trading on Wall Street after the video streaming company
:08:56. > :09:00.predicted slower subscriber growth. The company said it expected to add
:09:01. > :09:03.about 500,000 new customers in the US and 2 million
:09:04. > :09:06.internationally by the end of June. Analysts were expecting
:09:07. > :09:08.the company to add more. At the start of the year Netflix
:09:09. > :09:25.started a global push A quick look at the markets, look at
:09:26. > :09:29.Japan, up over 3%, yesterday it was down over 3%, it's becoming a daily
:09:30. > :09:35.event. The price of oil is down a bit but higher than it was this time
:09:36. > :09:39.yesterday. Loss of earnings to look out for today, we've mention Goldman
:09:40. > :09:43.Sachs and Yahoo, we've also got Johnson and Johnson, so a really
:09:44. > :09:48.busy time of year. Looking at the US, a really good end to the day on
:09:49. > :09:51.Wall Street. We will discuss some business news again when we look at
:09:52. > :09:53.the papers in a few minutes. See you then.