:00:00. > :00:00.Now for the latest financial news with Sally Burdock
:00:00. > :00:19.The central banks of Japan and the United States
:00:20. > :00:25.deliver their decisions on interest rates.
:00:26. > :00:28.Japan keeps there on hold and the US will make their choice later on
:00:29. > :00:29.today. Brazil's former president Lula da
:00:30. > :00:35.Silva, is to face trial on charges of money laundering and corruption
:00:36. > :00:38.linked to the state oil firm Also in the programme we'll be
:00:39. > :00:51.meeting an entrepreneur who thinks he knows how to kick
:00:52. > :00:57.start the UK tech sector. It's being called Super Wednesday,
:00:58. > :00:59.with announcements from two central bank heavyweights -
:01:00. > :01:09.the Bank of Japan and the US Federal The Bank of Japan has just announced
:01:10. > :01:17.its decision to keep interest rates on hold at zero point 1%, -0.1%
:01:18. > :01:22.although there have been some tweaks to its policy. We have the US
:01:23. > :01:25.central bank announcing its decision as well later in the day.
:01:26. > :01:30.of central banks is the focus of so much attention.
:01:31. > :01:33.As economies have struggled to pick up after the global slowdown -
:01:34. > :01:35.central bank policy has become increasingly important
:01:36. > :01:39.Japan has led the way in lowering rates -
:01:40. > :01:46.in January it controversially dropped interest rates to negative
:01:47. > :01:51.And the cost of borrowing is hovering at near historic lows
:01:52. > :01:53.across most developed countries around the world.
:01:54. > :01:57.Such low rates has meant central banks have had to take other steps
:01:58. > :02:00.Hence the shift in policy to quantitative easing -
:02:01. > :02:03.meaning the central banks purchase large amounts of debt
:02:04. > :02:08.In Europe, for instance, this is done to the tune of 80
:02:09. > :02:11.billion euros a month and includes buying sovereign debt and corporate
:02:12. > :02:15.But despite all this unprecedented action inflation has stayed
:02:16. > :02:19.stubbornly low and growth - except in America -
:02:20. > :02:24.So the question is what can central banks do now
:02:25. > :02:26.to boost their respective economies?
:02:27. > :02:31.Let's go live to our team in Singapore who are waiting
:02:32. > :02:39.Karishma Vaswani is our Asia business correspondent.
:02:40. > :02:50.They kept us waiting, didn't they? As I already mentioned, interest
:02:51. > :02:55.rates are to stay as they are at -0.1%. What else did they announce?
:02:56. > :03:01.There were a few tweaks to the policy and let me go through some of
:03:02. > :03:05.those things. The main thing to bear in mind beyond the fact that the
:03:06. > :03:11.Bank of Japan has decided to maintain the interest rate at that
:03:12. > :03:15.low level is that it will now purchase Japanese government bonds
:03:16. > :03:20.so that the ten year yield remains at the same rate. This is important
:03:21. > :03:25.because it means that there have been many concerns about the
:03:26. > :03:28.negative interest rate policy that financial institutions, banks,
:03:29. > :03:33.insurance companies and the suchlike were finding it difficult to make
:03:34. > :03:39.any sort of profit and they were in a difficult position financially.
:03:40. > :03:43.This move, according to analysts, was one of the options on the table
:03:44. > :03:50.and it may help to alleviate some of those challenges. Fundamentally the
:03:51. > :03:55.problem appears to be that the tool that central banks have in their
:03:56. > :04:00.armoury, so to speak, they appear to be running out for this sort of
:04:01. > :04:04.solution that has been presented today, they are minor tweaks in
:04:05. > :04:10.terms of what the central bank can do. It will be interesting to see
:04:11. > :04:14.what the statement that we are expecting from the central Bank of
:04:15. > :04:17.Japan, what they have to say in the next few months. Thank you.
:04:18. > :04:20.With me is Gervais Williams, Managing Director, Miton Asset
:04:21. > :04:31.Interesting, that explanation about what has been announced today which
:04:32. > :04:36.is not much but, I guess, it is an important detail. The Japanese money
:04:37. > :04:40.market ticked up a little bit after that announcement which came not
:04:41. > :04:45.long ago. The Japanese yen is strengthening as well. Talk through
:04:46. > :04:50.your response. They will continue to purchase exchange-rate funds. They
:04:51. > :04:56.will be slightly wider than before. I'll be a wider purchase. Small and
:04:57. > :05:02.mid-sized companies as well as large companies. The second thing is that
:05:03. > :05:06.they are trying to move away from having negative interest rates.
:05:07. > :05:10.Negative bond yields are toxic for a financial system in the longer term
:05:11. > :05:17.because if you have a pension thing, if you have a negative interest
:05:18. > :05:21.rate, you need to have more now than you will let the pay-out. They are
:05:22. > :05:27.trying to balance a long curve for less negative interest rates. We are
:05:28. > :05:33.expecting analysis does well from the Bank of Japan as to how things
:05:34. > :05:37.have gone overtime in terms of it is policy in terms of stimulus, trying
:05:38. > :05:43.to weaken the yen and that sort of thing. We have not had that news
:05:44. > :05:46.yet. But the Japanese economy is still on the doldrums. It is not
:05:47. > :05:51.really getting any sort of significant boost, is it, despite
:05:52. > :05:59.the efforts of the Prime Minister and the central bank. It is correct.
:06:00. > :06:03.The economy is moribund and we are looking at demand and supply reform.
:06:04. > :06:06.They are trying to get the vibrancy of the economy to emerge and that
:06:07. > :06:13.has not been coming through despite the efforts of the bank. Thank you
:06:14. > :06:19.for your time. We have of course the Federal Reserve decision later today
:06:20. > :06:23.and as we just heard, there is no change of rates expected by most
:06:24. > :06:25.economists in the USA but we will let you know what happens.
:06:26. > :06:27.The former Brazilian president, Lula da Silva, is to stand trial
:06:28. > :06:31.for accepting more than a million dollars in connection with a giant
:06:32. > :06:33.corruption scheme at the state run oil company Petrobras.
:06:34. > :06:37.The news came as the company announced a new business plan
:06:38. > :06:43.Daniel Gallas reports from Sao Paulo.
:06:44. > :06:53.Investors on Tuesday had a glimpse of the future in the past of
:06:54. > :06:59.Petrobras. A new business plan was announced for the next five years.
:07:00. > :07:03.It predicts a 25% cut in investment that is because Petrobras is one of
:07:04. > :07:09.the petrol companies with the highest corporate debt in the world.
:07:10. > :07:13.A judge finally accepted charges against the former president, saying
:07:14. > :07:18.he was at the top of this past corruption scheme that went on in
:07:19. > :07:21.the company for about ten years. The former president himself denies all
:07:22. > :07:27.accusations and many experts say that it may be difficult to have a
:07:28. > :07:30.clear case against him. But the former president will go to trial
:07:31. > :07:35.and will need to answer to the charges. Two years on since the
:07:36. > :07:38.beginning, it is still not clear what happened to Petrobras in the
:07:39. > :07:42.past. With all the uncertainty in the oil market, it is not known what
:07:43. > :07:47.will happen to the company in the future.
:07:48. > :07:57.Throughout the week we have been asking what it will take for the UK
:07:58. > :08:02.tech secretary to make a bigger mark on these global scene.
:08:03. > :08:05.Well, Herman Narula is at the sharp end of this.
:08:06. > :08:07.He's the boss of the virtual reality firm Improbable -
:08:08. > :08:23.and has some very clear views on what needs to be done.
:08:24. > :08:32.If we want to be successful, influential and prosperous we need
:08:33. > :08:37.to focus our attention on a single breakout success. To make that
:08:38. > :08:43.happen, I think, we need to change a few things. Culturally we need to be
:08:44. > :08:47.more comfortable with the idea of selling out and starting a company
:08:48. > :08:53.to sell something important. In the US, companies are trying to sell
:08:54. > :08:56.space travel and electric cars. That is the level of ambition that we
:08:57. > :09:00.need. From a government policy perspective we need to look at
:09:01. > :09:06.everything we can to prevent successes from the iodine easily
:09:07. > :09:13.purchased. We need to think about how we make intelligent revelation
:09:14. > :09:21.within sectors. We need to be in a position where we can support those
:09:22. > :09:27.successes. Lots more on our website from our technology team here. Do
:09:28. > :09:34.take a look at our Tech Talent series. This is the Japanese money
:09:35. > :09:40.market stop you can see reaction is pretty flat, to be honest. But the
:09:41. > :09:43.yen has strengthened since the announcement. No big dramatic
:09:44. > :09:49.reaction elsewhere which is encouraging. The price of oil has
:09:50. > :09:54.risen. Overnight on Wall Street you can see again quite flat. Markets
:09:55. > :09:58.are still looking ahead to any news, any change in decisions on the
:09:59. > :10:03.Federal Reserve. That is still to come on Super Wednesday. I would
:10:04. > :10:17.imagine markets would be extremely sensitive. I will see you soon.
:10:18. > :10:25.To charity that supports older people have had almost 80,000 social
:10:26. > :10:27.care workers from other European countries could lose their jobs.
:10:28. > :10:28.That could