0:00:00 > 0:00:00Now it's time for World Business Report.
0:00:19 > 0:00:21Online retailer Amazon leads a barrage of tech earnings.
0:00:21 > 0:00:23Its sales were up 34% in July to September,
0:00:23 > 0:00:27compared to the same period last year.
0:00:27 > 0:00:30And it's "bye, bye, bye!" to floor trading on the Hong
0:00:30 > 0:00:31Kong Stock Exchange.
0:00:31 > 0:00:35After more than 30 years, it's going fully electronic.
0:00:39 > 0:00:40Welcome to World Business Report.
0:00:40 > 0:00:47I'm Ben Bland.
0:00:47 > 0:00:51In a few moments will be live on the floor of the Hong Kong stock
0:00:51 > 0:00:54exchange for one last glimpse before it closes.
0:00:54 > 0:00:56Thursday was a huge day for technology company results.
0:00:56 > 0:00:59Four of the big global tech giants reported their latest earnings.
0:00:59 > 0:01:01Alphabet, Google's parent company, Microsoft and Twitter
0:01:01 > 0:01:04all posted their key numbers.
0:01:04 > 0:01:06But let's start with a look at Amazon.
0:01:06 > 0:01:09The retailer reported revenues of almost $44 billion in the three
0:01:09 > 0:01:13months between July and September - that's a jump of 34% over the same
0:01:13 > 0:01:20period last year.
0:01:20 > 0:01:26But profits were virtually unchanged since last year -
0:01:26 > 0:01:30that's because this is often the quarter when Amazon chooses
0:01:30 > 0:01:33to pile a bunch of money into its own projects like tech
0:01:33 > 0:01:35gadgets, streaming video, and warehouses.
0:01:35 > 0:01:39The company has operated on this model for years and it seems to have
0:01:39 > 0:01:42served it well.
0:01:42 > 0:01:49In fact, analysts now estimate that Amazon will command about 43.5%
0:01:49 > 0:01:52of all commercial online sales this year - that's nearly half
0:01:52 > 0:01:54of all the stuff sold online.
0:01:54 > 0:02:04Dave Lee sums up the day's action from San Francisco.
0:02:04 > 0:02:08Amazon's investors don't really mind how much profit it makes, as long as
0:02:08 > 0:02:11the company keeps on growing. August's acquisition of grocery
0:02:11 > 0:02:17chain wholefood helped Amazon on its way to a massive quarter. Its sales
0:02:17 > 0:02:23are up 34% on this time last year. Amazon's chief executive Jeff Bezos
0:02:23 > 0:02:26says investment in new areas like its popular Alex assistant would
0:02:26 > 0:02:33reap dividends in the near future if the profit right away. -- Alexa.
0:02:33 > 0:02:37Alphabet saw its share price rise after beating analyst expectations
0:02:37 > 0:02:41thanks to more people clicking on its advertising. But alphabet is
0:02:41 > 0:02:46spending more and more on traffic acquisition. But the amount it has
0:02:46 > 0:02:49to be addressed in order to get its advertising platform in front of
0:02:49 > 0:02:53internet users. That's why it is trying hard to make money in
0:02:53 > 0:02:57different ways.It's hard to complain about depending on a
0:02:57 > 0:03:00revenue source that is profitable but if you care about
0:03:00 > 0:03:04diversification it is still very heavily weighted towards research
0:03:04 > 0:03:07and could be an issue towards the company in the long-term if someone
0:03:07 > 0:03:11must invest heavily in the space. This batch of tech earnings also saw
0:03:11 > 0:03:14some surprisingly good news for Twitter.They beat every revenue,
0:03:14 > 0:03:18they beat monthly active users or how often people use it each month
0:03:18 > 0:03:22or how many and they also grew a lot in their daily active user counter,
0:03:22 > 0:03:26where people show up each day so if you're an investor looking at the
0:03:26 > 0:03:30long-term health of the company they need to have more users to grow more
0:03:30 > 0:03:34revenue and both in this quarter grew and it was a long time coming
0:03:34 > 0:03:37at all street was happy.A company predicted it made for the first time
0:03:37 > 0:03:41in its history soon be able to turn a profit. Dave Lee, BBC News, San
0:03:41 > 0:03:42Francisco.
0:03:42 > 0:03:45Think of a stock exchange and it conjures up images of a busy
0:03:45 > 0:03:48trading floor full of screens, desks and hundreds of traders.
0:03:48 > 0:03:50But not for much longer in Hong Kong.
0:03:50 > 0:03:53The Hong Kong stock exchange will close its trading floor
0:03:53 > 0:03:55after 31 years on Friday.
0:03:55 > 0:03:59In its heyday, the floor was home to more than a thousand stockbrokers.
0:03:59 > 0:04:02But the rise of electronic and internet trading has changed
0:04:02 > 0:04:05the industry permanently.
0:04:05 > 0:04:07Joining us from the floor of the Hong Kong exchange
0:04:07 > 0:04:15is Juliana Liu.
0:04:15 > 0:04:22Good to see you. What have they decided to do this now then? -- why?
0:04:22 > 0:04:27Well, exactly as you say, the rise of electronic and internet trading.
0:04:27 > 0:04:31Neither of which existed when the floor first started all the way back
0:04:31 > 0:04:38in 1986. In those heydays of the exchange floor, it was when you had
0:04:38 > 0:04:42hundreds and more than 1000 floor traders running around shouting
0:04:42 > 0:04:47their orders. This place was extremely noisy in those days but it
0:04:47 > 0:04:53really started to change around the year 2000 when brokerages began to
0:04:53 > 0:04:57move their floor trading operations out of disk space and into their
0:04:57 > 0:05:00offices because they could have everyone together and hire as many
0:05:00 > 0:05:04traders as they wanted, as many monitors as they wanted, so that's
0:05:04 > 0:05:12when things really started to change. In 2000, physically floor
0:05:12 > 0:05:16trading contributed to 20% of the turnover and in the last few years
0:05:16 > 0:05:19it has been really negligible. The officials at the exchange haven't
0:05:19 > 0:05:24said explicitly why they are closing their floor but essentially, it's no
0:05:24 > 0:05:29longer as relevant as it used be. And how nostalgic are people about
0:05:29 > 0:05:38their floor close and then? -- closing?Look, it's a bittersweet
0:05:38 > 0:05:42day, not just for the traders but for us also, for the media. It is
0:05:42 > 0:05:46also our last day he at the exchange. There were only two
0:05:46 > 0:05:50traders who turned up for work much to the news that this flawed
0:05:50 > 0:05:53close-up announced a few months ago and in the last few weeks traders
0:05:53 > 0:05:59have been heavily moving out today, a worker said he was so sad he was
0:05:59 > 0:06:03losing his second home and that he was spending more time here that he
0:06:03 > 0:06:08did at his own home. A lot of sadness here at the exchange today.
0:06:23 > 0:06:28True? The world is changing, financial technology is developing,
0:06:28 > 0:06:39we should get with the times, even if we don't want to go.TRANSLATION:
0:06:39 > 0:06:43I started as a broker after finishing school. It has been over
0:06:43 > 0:06:4940 years. There used to be for exchanges. Then they combined to
0:06:49 > 0:06:58become one exchange in 1986. Then we moved into this office.TRANSLATION:
0:06:58 > 0:07:02we have a deep affinity for this place. We worked together, side by
0:07:02 > 0:07:10side, chatting all day.TRANSLATION: at the time electronic trading
0:07:10 > 0:07:15systems wasn't as developed as it is now. So all transactions had to go
0:07:15 > 0:07:19through a centralised system. There were thousands of people here.
0:07:19 > 0:07:27Printers were running all the time. If there was noisy and busy. -- the
0:07:27 > 0:07:31atmosphere. We started out as just a small regional stock exchange but
0:07:31 > 0:07:34then Hong Kong became an international financial centre. I
0:07:34 > 0:07:39think stockbrokers working here would the lot, we have gone through
0:07:39 > 0:07:46countless financial crises. And we persevered. Stockbrokers made great
0:07:46 > 0:07:56contributions. This is something we are very proud of.There you go, one
0:07:56 > 0:07:59last point before they turned the lights off there.
0:07:59 > 0:08:00In other news:
0:08:00 > 0:08:03Royal Bank of Scotland has settled a US criminal investigation that
0:08:03 > 0:08:05accused its traders of lying to clients over investments
0:08:05 > 0:08:08between 2008 and 2013.
0:08:08 > 0:08:11The US Department of Justice said RBS will pay $44 million under
0:08:11 > 0:08:14the non-prosecution agreement.
0:08:15 > 0:08:17RBS said it self-reported the issue to the US authorities
0:08:17 > 0:08:21and was pleased the matter was now resolved.
0:08:21 > 0:08:26Toymaker Mattel is suspending its quarterly dividend after it
0:08:26 > 0:08:29suffered a hit from the bankruptcy of its largest retailer Toys'R'Us.
0:08:29 > 0:08:35Mattel's shares tumbled 16% to $13 after the company said it suffered
0:08:35 > 0:08:38a loss of more than $600 million in the three months that
0:08:38 > 0:08:41ended in September.
0:08:41 > 0:08:43The California-based company was also hurt by weak demand
0:08:43 > 0:08:46of its core products like Barbie, Hot Wheels, Thomas & Friends,
0:08:46 > 0:08:49and Monster High.
0:08:49 > 0:08:51Strong pick-up truck and SUV sales in the US boosted
0:08:51 > 0:08:52Ford's bottom line.
0:08:52 > 0:08:56The car maker saw profits jump 60% compared to the same quarter last
0:08:56 > 0:08:59year when it faced a recall.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02However, it still faces an uphill battle in China.
0:09:03 > 0:09:06The company said it sold over 830,000 cars and trucks
0:09:06 > 0:09:09on the mainland in the first nine months of the year -
0:09:09 > 0:09:19that's down 5% compared to the same period in 2016.
0:09:27 > 0:09:32Looking at the all ordinaries in Sydney, it is down a shade their,
0:09:32 > 0:09:37responding to the decision which the court said means the Deputy Prime
0:09:37 > 0:09:41Minister has to seek re-election because of the citizenship row and
0:09:41 > 0:09:48it means the government has lost its wafer thin majority so that's why
0:09:48 > 0:09:52the all ordinaries are responding to it like that. You can see the
0:09:52 > 0:09:59NASDAQ, the Dow, the big tech earnings from the big companies, we
0:09:59 > 0:10:03will be looking at that later so stay with us for that. Goodbye.