18/04/2017 World Business Report

Now for the latest financial news with Sally Bundock

A "free and fair" trade relationship - that's the message from the US

as Mike Pence continues his tour of Asia.

And banking on reform from President Trump,

Goldman Sachs and Bank of America are the latest

In a minute, we'll cross over to Asia to hear about a potential

takeover of one of Britain's most popular breakfast cereals.

as we speak, the US Vice-President Mike Pence is en

route to Tokyo where he's meeting with the Japanese Prime Minister,

In recent weeks, President Trump appears to have softened his stance

on trade after taking aim at some of the world's biggest exporters

In the case of Japan it has been accused of manipulating its currency

for trade advantage, something the Japanese have denied.

And the Trump Administration is hoping to reverse the trade

deficit between the two nations which last year stood

When it comes to their trade relationship, the car industry

is key - Japan currently exports more than a million cars

While the US only sells around 10,000 vehicles a year in Japan.

That is something Trump wants to change.

And his administration is keen to strike what it calls a "balanced

and fair" trade agreement with Japan, which has been given

added urgency by America's decision to withdraw

from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal.

So we will have a discussion with out on an expert

in World Business Report, coming up later.

Ken Odeluga is Market Analyst at City Index.

Quite interesting, Mike Pence on his tour of Asia. The geopolitics is

completely dominating, which will continue today in Japan, despite

trade supposed to be one of the most important issues. -- despite the

fact trade was supposed to be. Yes, just hours before these talks got

under way, the Treasury Secretary provided a more nuanced take on the

administration's in view of the strong dollar, Secretary Mnuchin

saying that over the longer term a strong dollar is actually a positive

thing. If you juxtapose that with the idea that Mike Pence is going to

meet Japanese officials, and of course the Prime Minister, a country

which the administration has suggested could be on the verge of

being a currency manipulator, clearly we think that is

significant. Also, as well, Mike Pence was in favour of the TPP. He

was quite an advocate for it. Yes, not just TPP. If you look into Mike

Pence's background, his history, his voting record, he has consistently

been an advocate of free trade. So that is obviously a little bit of a

contradiction. He supported TPP very specifically and his supporters

Nafta. -- he supported. He is not really the person to send to

drastically rearrange existing trade agreements. But we know that when it

comes to President Trump himself, he has been fairly vocal about various

issues. The car industry is one of them. There was a lot of lost before

he became president about his views that the Japanese do not buy more

cars made in America. -- lot of bluster. Although Japan does have

some huge factories in the US, it employs a lot of Americans. Yes, the

United States would read their biggest export market in the year to

March. A 2.8% rise in car sales, no letup. A big installed a soft

production in the United States as well. -- big installed base of

production. So we will not get any specific news about trade between

the two countries after this visit, but it is important in setting the

foundations for future discussions. Absolutely. Donald Trump has made

clear that that is his intention, to rebalance existing trade agreements.

The simple fact is that on this occasion there are more important

factors to discuss. Canon, thank you for coming in this morning. -- Ken,

thank you. We will be across this story all morning, and when we get

more news we will update you. As mentioned earlier,

Donald Trump has vowed to provide a boost to the country's

car industry. But this isn't the only one hoping

to benefit from policy changes made Last week, some of the biggest

players on Wall Street reported a strong set of results,

but is the winning streak Last week both JP Morgan Chase and

Citigroup reported earnings, and on Tuesday we will hear from bank of

merit and Goldman Sachs. There are two things that will boost earnings

for Bank of America. Stronger trading, thanks to record highs seen

on US markets, and the higher interest rates, which means that the

bank will have made more money from lending. Goldman Sachs will also see

a boost to their earnings, because of strong bond trading and

investment banking. But really, what investors will want to hear from

both banks is an update on the likelihood of any changes to banking

rules. The election of President Trump fuelled a big rally in banking

stocks on the expectation that he would roll back some of the rules

known as Dodd-Frank. Recently banking stocks have been pulling

back, after not being able to repeal and replace Obamacare, there were

worries that some of the promises made by the company stretch and may

not end up happening. -- made by the Trump administration.

UK cereal company Weetabix is expected to be sold to US firm

Post Holdings for $1.8 billion, according to the Financial Times.

Weetabix has been widely reported as being up for sale by its Chinese

owner Bright Food, which bought a 60% stake in 2012.

Rico Hizon has been following the story for us

from our Asia business hub in Singapore.

Who else to talk to about this? Nice to see you, Rico. Do you enjoy

Weetabix cereal, Sally? Yes, I love cereal, ie it Weetabix all the time.

So what is going on? Unfortunately it is not as popular in China,

despite being an iconic brand for cereals. Bright Food, which owns a

majority of Weetabix, has been having a difficult time marketing

the product to a more than a billion strong consumer base. The Chinese

food firm is currently struggling to build significant market share on

the mainland. That is partly down to Chinese tastes, as consumers they

are generally prefer a hot, rice -based breakfast, rather than a cold

cereal. Bright's acquisition was the largest by a Chinese company in

2012. If you look at the numbers it may look positive for Weetabix,

because they doubled their sales in China in 2016. But it isn't enough,

because they are coming off a low base. The UK still accounts for the

majority of its sales. As for the potential buyer, Post Holdings, it

is the third-largest cereal firm in America and owns brands including

Goldman Crisp and Coca Pebbles. At post- mouldings may have some rivals

for Weetabix. Some of the biggest names in food, including the UK's

Associated British Foods and Italy's Barillia have been named as possible

suitors. We will know soon who will be the winner for the city % stake

of right foods in Weetabix. -- 60% stake of Bright Foods.

Netflix has grown its user base at a slower rate than previously

expected in the first three months of the year.

The streaming giant added 4.95 million new subscribers

in the quarter, fewer than the 5.2 million it had forecast.

The firm says the delay of its House of Cards series was the main reason

for the lower-than-expected subscriber growth.

Uber drivers in New York may soon be able to earn tips thanks

Regulators have announced plans aimed at forcing all cab companies

that take payment via credit card to offer a tipping option.

Rival services such as Lyft already offer a tipping option -

however, Uber has since resisted such a move.

Let's look at the markets. Today everybody is lack across the world,

having had a long bank holiday weekend. -- is back. Wall Street was

open on Monday, but it was a short today than usual with lighter trade.

Next action in Asia. -- mixed. I will show you the US very quickly,

so you can see how the day ended. That helped today's session in east

Asia. I will see you soon.