Over the weekend. For many there will be some sunny spells but i have the black wind arrows on here to give you an idea that it is unusually windy, guts potentially up to 50 mph, particularly on sunday. Goodbye. Hello, this is business live from bbc news with victoria fritz and sally bundock. Retail titans alibaba and walmart get ready to unveil their their latest numbers amid the shadow of the trade showdown between us and china. Live from london, thats our top story on thursday the 15th of august. Are the titans feeling the burn . Retail giants alibaba and walmart get set to reveal the fortunes of retailing in china and the us. Also in the programme. Market turmoil recession fears spark a big sell off on wall street but asia pares back earlier losses. This is what we are looking at the start of the trading day in europe. You can see it is pretty flat but equity sliding a little the red. Into the red. Also, the street food explosion vendors and food trucks are one of the trendiest ways to eat out well find out how to make it work in a busy city like london. And from next year workers in finland will be able to decide when and where they work for at least half of their hours. Today we want to know. Should other countries follow suit and make Flexible Working a legal requirement . Let us know just use the hashtag bbcbizlive. Hello and a very warm welcome to business live. We start with retail its the battle of the giants today, as the sectors big firms from china and the us get ready to unveil their latest results. Investors will be looking to see if the companies have been affected by the trade war between the us and china. Alibaba which is like amazon, paypal and twitter rolled into one has a growing Cloud Computing service and announced its expanding its business to Business Service in the us. The American Government estimates that type of service is worth nearly 24 trillion and alibaba wants a slice of that pie. Meanwhile, in the us walmart is proving it can do business on the high street and online. The companys e commerce sales increased 41 in the last year. But the big risk factor for both is the trade war between the us and china. Alibaba wants to expand into the us which has become more difficult as the trade war rages and walmart relies on chinese imports to stock its shelves, so if those prices go up the company will have to decide whether to absorb the cost or pass it on to customers. Thanks, victoria. With us is alex wood, europe editor, forbes. Nice to see you, alex. Victoria outlining the key numbers. What do you think . I think for both these companies it is an interesting time point. A lot of strength on both sides. On the walmart side, i think it isa sides. On the walmart side, i think it is a Company Nearing the transition over to e commerce but for alibaba as well Cloud Computing isa for alibaba as well Cloud Computing is a big theme to get excited about but as you mentioned, the trade war, i think we need to be really concerned about this. We have seen that donald trump has already pulled back and started to pull away many of those tariffs he spoke about but lets not forget for a moment this isa lets not forget for a moment this is a president who is incredibly unpredictable. Probably in the time we are speaking right now we will see some tweets and stories will change so i think there are serious concerns over the trade war. Im sure alibaba breathed a sigh of relief when they heard those tariffs due to come into effect end of september may not enter until late to mid december. For alibaba and for alibaba the to mid december. For alibaba and for aliba ba the holiday to mid december. For alibaba and for alibaba the Holiday Seasons are critical. I think it is a very calculated move from trump. I think he knows if you start to impact that Holiday Season trading, the Consumer Confidence will, you know, be absolutely key to take us to the end of the year. We still dont know what he will do as he is an unpredictable man but with walmart some interesting stuff is coming out. One analyst that caught my eye made the point about amazons prime day, that cute discount David Cameron a few weeks ago and how positive that can be for retailers like walmart, and i am the same that discount day on amazon a few weeks ago. They are actually seeing an upside on that as well. Talking about the amazon prime day i would imagine alibabas singles day is what inspired that for amazon. For alibaba that what inspired that for amazon. For aliba ba that is what inspired that for amazon. For alibaba that is a huge day. 2a is and they make billions. The worlds biggest shopping day and for us in the west it is hard to imagine that level of shopping yes, they make billions. Many retailers in the uk are starting to tap into alibabas markets for incredibly low priced goods and reselling them to retailers as well. Even though alibaba is retailers as well. Even though aliba ba is not retailers as well. Even though alibaba is not a household name for many people in the west, it is having an impact on our retail. Thank you so much, alex, for coming. It will certainly be interesting and when we get the numbers from the tonight retailers we will make sure that you know. We certainly will lets take a look at some of the other stories making the news. Us tech conglomerate cisco says the us china trade war is going to mean profits will be lower than expected. It says sales in china are down 25 this year and that the countrys state owned enterprises were no longer taking bids from cisco. Its warned this will have a substantial impact on the companys performance as a whole. The European Central bank has told uk Financial Institutions to speed up their preparations for moving staff to the eu after brexit. Many london based banks are expanding their eu operations under plans agreed with the ecb. But the European Central bank says some of those banks are falling behind schedule and risk being caught off guard if britain leaves without a deal. Ryanairs pilots in ireland will strike for 48 hours next week after talks with management failed to bring an agreement over their pay demands. Their union says the company has failed to come up with a reasonable offer. Bosses are calling on pilots to return to the negotiating table. The strike is due to start on august 22nd. Lets make sense of Financial Markets value for you. I am sure you have heard the headlines, dramatic falls, fears of a wall street recession, everyone on edge. But what is going on in asia in the background . But what is going on in asia in the background . The but what is going on in asia in the background . The big question. Lets bring in Karishma Vaswani who has been following this. What was the reaction in wall street yesterday . As you would expect, the opened sharply but pared back some of those losses throughout the day, the markets in asia. Sentiment has been pretty wea k markets in asia. Sentiment has been pretty weak and that is because of the Warning Signals we have been talking about. You will remember the lower growth figures in germany, the wea ker lower growth figures in germany, the weaker Economic Data in china yesterday, but it was really the bond markets in the United States signalling the chances of a recession are either sooner or more likely than we think. All of that is making investors very nervous in this region. They are buying safe haven assets like these government bonds and selling of equity is usually seen as more risky in times of economic downturns. What is worrying them is the inversion of the us yield. That sounds like a technical term but it tells you that investors are more nervous about the near term prospects for the us economy so there are basically willing to be paid less to park their money for a longer time. We have seen that appetite for safety in asian bonds as well with demand for some bonds in the region going up, effectively pushing the yield lower. That is why they are all worried because in the past this kind of activity in the bond markets has at times signalled a recession could happen sooner than we think. Of course adding pressure to all of those worries is the fact that there appears to be no quick resolution to the us and china trade war. Some economists say it is one of the major reasons why companies are holding back on investment and spending and that is why we are seeing these worries reflected on the stock markets. Thanks very much, karishma. Lets see how those markets did actually end up. This is the nikkei injapan, down i. 2 . It has seen worse times, but sort of skidding as it came to a close. We saw the wall street shock about 12 hours earlier. And we can see the slipping, reversing some of the gains it made about a day earlier, all because of these fears of Global Economic slowdown. As karishma was saying, yield curves are inverting all over the place and that has sent markets a little into a spin over the last 2a hours but they seem to be finding their feet. To be clear, this curve inverting may be a sign a recession is on the way. A feeling that wont have been helped by german gdp or Economic Growth contracting or shrinking in the Second Quarter of the year. We do have a whole raft of data coming out from the usa today including manufacturing, Industrial Production and retail sales numbers, all of which all investors will be looking on for signs of any kind of slowdown. Heres how the european markets have opened. Theyre just half an hour into the tradind day. One big stock to mention ag Muller Maersk the worlds biggest shipping company. It has beaten profit forecasts but the Worlds Largest shipping line says the Global Outlook remains very uncertain. And Michelle Fleury has the details of whats ahead on wall street today. This thursday there will be a glimpse into how traders are holding up, one of the bright spots into the economy. The Commerce Department is due to release retail sales figures forjuly, and the numbers are likely to show a 0. 3 increase injuly after rising 0. 4 injune. As weve already heard, retail giant walmart is also scheduled to report its earnings for the Second Quarter. And for signs of the impact of the trade war between the us and china on chip makers, watch out for the latest earnings from Applied Materials the company is forecasting a drop in Third Quarter revenue. That was Michelle Fleury in new york. Joining us is kathleen brooks, director at minerva analysis. Good to see you. What are your thoughts on the last 24 48 hours . thoughts on the last 24 48 hours . |j think thoughts on the last 24 48 hours . think theres been a bit of a Tipping Point but stocks are coming off their highs, the ftse and the dax lower, but the us indices are actually flat over the last 12 months so i think although in some cases stocks have made record highs this was probably a natural pull back but there is a lot of co nflu e nce pull back but there is a lot of confluence of factors weighing on markets at the moment. Mostly, i think geopolitical tensions. A lot of uncertainty out there. We talk about Economic Data which is one cause of concern, of course, but it is the trade war, brexit, what is going on in hong kong, china, pakistan, india. I think they are the real causes of concern and when we get those flash point is when we tend to see the markets really tipped over. We are of course in august. It can be a difficult month for trading, volumes can be a bit funny. How much should we worry about the stuff, and how much should we think, letsjust about the stuff, and how much should we think, lets just chill and take another look at this in september when everyone including the traders are back at school . Element a very good point. August can be very volatile, a lot of thin liquidity because people are away on holiday yes, very good point. We have to look ahead to the Central Bank Conference next week, when the central bank would come out and say, we will look after the markets, dont worry about a recession because we will act. Youre quite right. If they do that september could be a very different story. They are not going to say that, though. That we have so many tools in our toolkit, because we know they havent . The Federal Reserve could cut Interest Rates further, and the European Central bank are hinting they could cut Interest Rates into negative territory. I think in the past people thought the zero was the boundary, but taking us deeper into negative territory as potentially the new norm. A lot of Central Banks could have more tools of the toolkit but whether or not they will be good for the economy, we will have to see. Kathleen, thank you for now. She will be back. We will be talking funky clothes and all sorts. Still to come. Selling food on the street its becoming increasingly trendy. Well find out what it takes to sell from the food stall. Youre with business live from bbc news. Firstly, if youre watching us and expecting your a level results today, one of the 300,000 and 18 year olds. Ourfingers today, one of the 300,000 and 18 year olds. Our fingers and today, one of the 300,000 and 18 year olds. Ourfingers and legs are crossed for you. A really anxious wait. I remember how anxious i was whatever happens, itll be fine but with a growing focus on students studying stem subjects, science, technology, engineering and mathematics is enough being done to get more women and people from diverse backgrounds to choose these subjects and take them through to the workforce . Could companies themselves be doing more with schools and students to help encourage young people to take these subjects on . Claire vyvyan is a Senior Vice President at dell technologies. What do you think, claire . Firstly, congratulations to everybody getting their a level results today. It is a massive achievement regardless of the results and as they come in. From a diversity point of view, gender, all the other points of view, it is really critical for business we get a diverse lens. The business we get a diverse lens. The Business World serves the whole of the economy and serves everybody who lives in the United Kingdom and we really, really need businesses to have a diverse population. In Technology Sector particularly given Technology Sector particularly Given Technology is a huge growth sector for the technology is a huge growth sector forthe uk, and technology is a huge growth sector for the uk, and given that technology is underlying all the other aspects of business, so weather education, health care, finance, manufacturing, retail, all of those sectors are driven by technology, and we need to make sure those of us in technology produce systems, applications, environments that serve the whole of the population, and that needs a Diverse Workforce in the Technology Sector. Very briefly, what is the impact of getting this wrong . The impact of getting this wrong . The impact of getting it wrong as the systems and the technology we are bringing into the technology we are bringing into the marketplace have a single dimension and serve particular sectors of the economy and particular groups. So we really have to work hard to make sure we have a gender mixed developing systems, age makes developing systems, and ethnic mix developing systems, a Socio Economic mix developing systems. 0k, all right, we will have to leave it there. Thank you, claire from del technologies. Youre watching business live our top story today Global Retail giants alibaba and walmart are about to reveal their latest results. Investors will be closely watching to see if the firms have been affected by the trade war between the us and china. A quick look at how the markets are faring. Also very much in the headlines. You can see it as a flat day in europe, to be honest. Not dramatic. Everyone taking a breather, perhaps a bit of calm returning after wednesdays storm. Its freshly prepared, filling and often delicious a big hit with millennial is. What ami a big hit with millennial is. What am i talking about, sally . Laughter millennials. I am talking about street food. It started in asia and now the rest of the world is getting a taste of the action too. The food and Agriculture Organisation has estimated that everyday nearly 2. 5 billion people eat street food. Its a booming market, especially in the uk, where its seen growth thats faster than the total fast food market. Recent polls suggest the sector made almost 1 billion last year. Well, one organisation at the forefront of this thriving industry in the country is kerb. Founded in 2012, the group curates street food market hubs across london and has around 90 traders. The firms founder, petra barran, joins us now. Welcome to business live. How did this all begin . It began when i was a trader. I had a chocolate van and was driving around the country selling chocolate to whoever came my way which was pretty much everyone because everyone loves chocolate. Did you meet charlie . because everyone loves chocolate. Did you meet charlie . I met people at festivals, parties all over the place and this was an amazing dash when there was an amazing itinerant community that existed as traders without the bricks and mortar and i thought we should get together, organise, create strength in numbers and make ourselves more visible because there is so much great food being cooked up in the street. What are you actually doing for these traders . We are incubating them. We bring them in. Firstly, we run workshops to help people with an idea because people always walk around markets and think, i would love to do that, it would be so much fun, and it is about how to turn that into a reality and school them into mainly how hard it is, what are all the bumps involved, and then we put those traders we choose with the really bright ideas and the really good vision through our Incubator Programme for three month and those who graduate from there become full time members of kerb and they trade at all of our events and corporate catering, our events. And they pay a fee to you which is how you work as a business . Element they pay a membership fee and we essentially sell space on the market so we charge a percentage of what they take every day. What do you have to do to say you are a street food vendor . Is there certain criteria . Element you have to be able to really roll with the punches, mainly. Yes, you have to be able. So many bumps on the road out there, the weather, inconsistencies. And you dont have a fixed building . Is a trader . You have a gazebo, truck, anything that can pop up and put down, get out of the way because you doubt our own any of the land you are on but occu py any of the land you are on but occupy it while you are trading there. I suppose it is a lowcost way or entry level way to get into this kind of business but there is a really big turnover. Lots of these businesses doubt thrive or go on perhaps too i guess the goal, which might bea perhaps too i guess the goal, which might be a restaurant of their own. Imean, is might be a restaurant of their own. I mean, is that one of the reasons we have seen street food increase in price, because it does seem to be that each time you go to one of these markets it seems to be a little bit more expensive . Yeah, i think it is a really difficult one. I think street food traders are expected to be all things to all people, expected to be very quick, very high quality, really cheap, but the reality is all of the gusts involved with putting together that amazing burger everybody is obsessing about is really hard. You know, youve got your pitch fees, your food gusts, your staff know, youve got your pitch fees, yourfood gusts, your staff gusts, everything is going up. Brexit is making people very nervous in terms of the costs of everything your food costs, staff costs. In terms of regulations, checking on how the food is cooked and it all being done ina certain food is cooked and it all being done in a certain way etc, can street food vendors avoid all that, pop up and pop down. Element they could but they wouldnt be able to create yes, they could but they would be able to create a viable business. You wouldnt be able to get into kerb unless you had all your checks and balances. You wouldnt be able to tread. Are they regulated in the same way . I think they are regulated more, i think they get checked up on more. We operate, we are contracted with the Natural History museum, with the Natural History museum, with all billingsgate market, somerset house, and the rigmarole you have to go through to get into that to even be listed is really ha rd core that to even be listed is really hardcore because everyone traditionally thinks of it as, oh, my god, you traditionally thinks of it as, oh, d you going traditionally thinks of it as, oh, my god, you going be ok . You have to jump my god, you going be ok . You have to jump through hoops. Those who are able to really delete my able to build a really viable business. Thank you so much. Yeah, no worries. In a moment well take a look through the business pages, but first heres a quick reminder of how to get in touch with us. London, singapore, shanghai, new york. Our correspondent have your Business World covered on air, online, and on the bbcs news app. Check out bbc. Com business for their insight and analysis. The bbcs business live page has the latest breaking Business News. We want your views too. Get in touch via their business live page, tweet us bbcbusiness, or find us on facebook at bbc money. Join the bbcs business conversation. Kathleen is back with us. We will start by talking about the story on the World EconomicForum Website and it is really interesting, but finland taking a radical new approach to Flexible Working. What are they going to do . Element they are actually proposing that about. Basically you have flexible hours for half of your total working hours yes, they are basically proposing. In finland they have really been at the forefront of Flexible Working way back to the 19905 but they are basically saying you can decide where you want to work for half of errors, you can fit yourjob in of child care, general lifestyle commitments, outside commitments, and full timers can bank time off to get more on the holidays. It sounds idyllic. It really does. Many viewers have been in touch saying, i dream of this. Absolutely, and some of them are here. It will not work for everyone to stopjudy here. It will not work for everyone to stop judy says with travel time, cost and to stop judy says with travel time, costand air to stop judy says with travel time, cost and air pollution it makes perfect delete my perfect sent in cities to try to work out of the office more. Tracy says, great idea but i dont think it would work with school staff, for example. Of course. You cant really do that. This will really only be useful for some i suppose office based workers, really. People talk about this in terms of the benefits to the employees, but there could be benefits for employers as well. This article also says fitting work commitments around your lifestyle and home life actually boosts productivity. Something lacking for our economy. Many of you have been in touch to say this is great but it doesnt work for me because i am a chef, waiter, i drive a bus, or whatever, but the point is if it is law it is legislation for those who wa nt law it is legislation for those who want this flexibility, who can have this flexibility. They can pursue it, thats the point, isnt it . Element this is in finland but things in finland as they have been at the forefront of Flexible Working have infiltrated elsewhere yes, this is in finland. It is worth may bea this is in finland. It is worth may be a case study for other companies to look at. Chief executive has tweeted this morning and come apologies, i dont have your details just now. Saying basically we implemented this in our company, small business, and said productivity went up, morale went up, the workers are happier, they work shorter hours but they are much more effective. A really interesting conversation. Yes, four our workweek. Like mike allen, working at home for a quality manager for three years, going into the lab for just three days a week he says he has found it more productive, fewer disruptions and of course the shortest commute ever yes, working in a lab. I wonder if there is an issue around isolationism. You are all at home, you dont get those water cooler moments, that bonding you might get chatting together. This is how you work, isnt it . Element exactly how i work and even people i get to help me work, i have never met them. I do it quite remotely. So it is an isolation factor and i think if you are all very entrenched and home commitments and other things. Technology is obviously great but it doesnt give you that tactile, random conversation. So you could miss out on something but equally you miss out on a bit of living if you are in the office 12 hours a day so there will always be a balance there i think. Kathleen, thanks for being on the programme. Really interesting. And thanks for all your comments today. The hashtag bbcbizlive is where tojoin in. Absolutely. Plenty of Business News from us throughout the rest of the day and on the business live page. See you soon. Goodbye. Good morning. Ithink good morning. I think many of us will enjoy todays brighter and drier conditions compared to yesterdays relentless rain. But look at this area of cloud in the mid atlantic look at this area of cloud in the mid atla ntic at the look at this area of cloud in the mid atlantic at the moment. That is tomorrows wet and windy weather. In the meantime we are under these clear skies across the uk so for most of us today it will be much drier and it will be sunnier. A few showers around this morning, mainly towards western parts but those will drift to the east and clear away and by this afternoon for most of england and wales open to scotland there will be lots of blue skies and sunshine. At the cloud will increase slightly in Northern Ireland later on. Still fairly blustery conditions but much warmer than yesterday, temperatures up to about 19 23 degrees. But through tonight we will see the cloud increasing, rain moving into these northern and Western Areas friday morning, when starting to pick up. Some cloud in eastern areas will allow us to just drop below double digits, maybe nine celsius in east anglia, but further west not quite as cold because we have this area of low pressure all linked into the area of cloud i showed you at the start. That is moving east and with that it brings windy conditions and also some heavy rain moving from west to east. It might take until the afternoon until it reaches the far east of england but there will be sunny spells following on behind in Northern Ireland and scotland with some showers. These are the wind gusts, widely up to 30 1i0 mph, potentially 45 widely up to 30 40 mph, potentially 45 mph on the irish sea coast. Temperatures, about 18 20 celsius, but i think like yesterday it is fairly irrelevant where you have the wind and rain. Into the weekend, weather system across the far south. That will bring the potential for some rain in the south east. But some rain in the south east. But some uncertainties for rainfall in the south east of england during saturday. If anything, the south east of england during saturday. Ifanything, it the south east of england during saturday. If anything, it will tend to clear away. Some showers across northern and Western Areas and some could be heavy. Still very blustery conditions throughout saturday. Again, look at those wind gusts. 30 and 40 mph wind gusts particularly in the north of the uk and by sunday the winds will be stronger, quite widely 40 50 mile per hour wind gusts. For many it should be dry although there will be some showers and some of those could be on the heavy side. Goodbye. Youre watching bbc news at nine with me, annita mcveigh. The headlines no suspicion of foul play in the death of teenager nora quorin. Police in malaysia say there is no indication of violence or abduction. A Police Press Conference has taken place in malaysia and we will bring you the details shortly. Labour Leaderjeremy Corbyn sets out his plan to block a no deal brexit, asking mps to make him temporary prime minister. That would mean a caretaker government, led by labour, which would be a government in order to prevent a no deal brexit and bring about a general election so the people of this country can decide theirfuture. Mr corbyn has written to other opposition parties,