with a strong bounce back. on wall street, in asia and this is trading right now in europe. and we'll be getting the inside track on...kids entertainment. we're spending more on children's parties than ever before. we'll be talking to the artistic director who is stretching imaginations, as the bar for the perfect party gets higher and higher. also in the programme — samsung says its latest model is the future of smartphones. do you agree? just let us know your thoughts using thr hashtag bbc biz live. hello and welcome to business live. it will be good to hear from you about the prospect of a folding phone. we start in brussels — where the european commission unveils its autumn economic forecasts in a few hours‘ time. europe's growth is flagging — to the extent that some now fear the region's economy could be heading for recession. in the three months to september, the countries that share the euro currency posted overall growth ofjust 0.2% — the weakest rate in more than four yea rs. italy is the weakest link — it's estimated to have seen no growth at all. worries over the state of italy's finances have seen brussels try to stop a budget spending spree by its new populist government. then there is the trade war with the us — which has hit eu steel and aluminium with steep import taxes. and in less than five months the region's number two economy — the uk — is due to leave the european union, with a deal on the future trading relationship yet to be agreed. danae kyriakopoulou is the chief economist and head of research, at the official monetary and financial institutions forum. what do you think? yes, it is maturing. the federal reserve in the us is tightening policy and this could spell over if it is not managed well. but at the same vein growth has been supported by the ecb policy. nor other policy levers have been moving, and now we are seeing others try to leave the physical policy like italy it is leading to some tension. at the same thing we have trade was globally and also the issue of what happens if we hit a global downturn. is this euro area and the ecb prepared to weather that? what kind of tools do they have to respond? absolutely, but one of the big issues facing the most immediately is the threat posed by italy in this budget that it seemed to be too large to digester. certainly, that is what the european commission believes. do you think rome and brussels will be able to sort out their differences? is issuing an undercurrent in european policies and politics about how to reform the architecture of the euro. four years economists like myself have been saying we need a more expansive fiscal policy but the question is how to do it. if you do it in a way that scares the market, which is what it seems in italy because it is not according to the rules, it can bea not according to the rules, it can be a big risk —— for years. italy is a big economy in the euro area, it is not greece, something that can be managed if it blows up. so a big risk. the other side of policy from the fiscal side is the monetary side. as europe really have the tools to fight a recession if that is where they find themselves? we have seen great creativity in the past. one way of putting it! if they stop quantitative easing there is a case opened by the german courts trying to make it legal. if they stop it and there are all these legal and political issues around it, can be restarted the game? one question. but there are also other policies they may follow. the bank of japan has been policies they may follow. the bank ofjapan has been quite policies they may follow. the bank of japan has been quite creative and they may do something similar. i wouldn't quite say that arsenal is empty but they certainly won't have room to cut interest rates if they don't tighten up. they are late to enter this phase and they are late to exit as well. late to the party! danae, thank you very much for coming in. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news... beginning with samsung! look at this... samsung has unveiled a folding handset at an event in san francisco. when unfolded, the device resembles a tablet. when closed, a separate smaller "cover display" on the handset‘s other side comes into use. samsung has teased the concept for more than five years and had been vying with huawei to show off a device first. bmw has warned it may move more sport utility vehicle production from the us to china, as the trade war between the two could dent profits this year by some $3“; million. the german car giant currently makes its x—series suvs in spartanburg, south carolina — most of them for export to china and other global markets. china is now applying a 40% import tariff on cars made in the us. electric car—maker tesla has appointed a new chair of its board. robyn denholm is the former chief financial officer at australian telecoms giant telstra — and is already on the board of tesla. she takes over the role from founder elon musk, who will remain as tesla's chief executive. mr musk agreed to give up the chairmanship last month to resolve claims of fraud brought by us financial regulators. toshiba says it's cutting 7,000 jobs over the next five years in a bid to stem losses. the japanese conglomerate says its also liquidating its british nuclear power unit and selling its us liquefied natural gas business to help curb worries from investors. joining us now to say more is rupert wingfield—hayes is in tokyo. you've been following the story. this looks like a company really in prices? it's part of a long-term restructuring programme toshiba has been involved in for something, and it's really... a lot of these big japanese corporations that have been around for hundred years or started off making electronic and electrical goods, household goods, that they can no longer compete in, so we've seen this with other companies, toshiba, sony, and other large japanese corporations, where they are japanese corporations, where they a re really japanese corporations, where they are really struggling to compete in their old core businesses with companies from china, south korea and elsewhere, so. toshiba is doing has been getting rid of a lot of its old sort of electronics television and white goods making departments and white goods making departments and investing, putting money into other businesses it thinks it has a future income and those are heavy industrial infrastructure, railways, nuclear power plants and things like that, but it has also run into problems of course because of the ba n kru ptcy problems of course because of the ba nkru ptcy of problems of course because of the bankruptcy of its north american nuclear division last year, prompting this restructuring now. all right, thanks very much. rupert wingfield—hayes in tokyo for us. that is the latest on toshiba. these are the markets. in the us, up to present at the close, the best post mid—terms rally seen since the 19805. post mid—terms rally seen since the 1980s. and post mid—terms rally seen since the 19805. and it post mid—terms rally seen since the 1980s. and it is a similar story in asia. the feeling is nothing too dramatic going to happen in the next couple of years with the trump administration because his wings clipped a little with the house of representatives in the hands of the democrats in terms of the majority. looking at europe now... lots of earnings coming through. we have heard from the pharmaceutical giant, their sales down by a third and their sales down by a third and their pre—tax profits down as well. sainsbury‘s, the big retailer in the uk, listed in london, shares up i.6%. at 20% rise in underlying profits, and we have also heard from burberry, profits up a bit as well, so burberry, profits up a bit as well, so lots of earnings coming through. our business live page keeps you up—to—date with all those stories as they break. but let's look at today on wall street. and kim gittleson has the details of what's ahead on wall street today. on thursday, investor attention will once more be focused on what's happening in washington, but this time they'll be paying attention to a different american institution, the federal reserve. america's central bank will conclude its two—day policy meeting on thursday. now, most investors don't expect that the fed will raise interest rates. that is expected to happen when it meets again in the summer. instead, what they'll be focusing on is what the fed has to say about the course of the us economy. any suggestion the bankers there might be willing to increase interest rates at a faster rate than investors were expecting could leave markets to fall, as well as prompting another review from president donald trump, who's made no secret of his distaste for the third's decision to continue to raise interest rates. joining us us is richard dunbar, senior investment strategist, aberdeen standard investments. hello. good morning. let's talk about what has happened after the mid—terms, whether you call it a blue wave, red ripple, raspberry ripple, anywhere in between! we have seen ripple, anywhere in between! we have seen one ripple, anywhere in between! we have seen one of the best performances after the mid—terms this side of the last 50 years. interesting. markets and investors seem to quite like the gridlock on capitol hill. this bodes is certainly not what many expected, and following through to asia last night and europe this morning. that is as we said on the context of a global equity market which has been pretty wea k global equity market which has been pretty weak over the last format or five weeks. october was a nasty month for global financial markets, but as kim was saying, all focusing on what the fed will raise rates... and again president trump really wanting to influence that. it is still quite headwind, the market rates, the price of money going up in the united states, and possibly elsewhere in the world. the trade sanctions, etc, being led by donald trump, still ongoing, and the ripple effects of those policies are still being felt across the world. there are still plenty of headwinds but in the meantime, you know, some of the wea kness we the meantime, you know, some of the weakness we have seen over the past few weeks has certainly come back a little. i think we will leave it there for the moment, but have a look at the papers because we will be quizzing you about them in about ten minutes' time. still to come children's parties, they can be expensive affairs. we'll talk to a party expert about a growing market. you're with business live from bbc news. burberry has had a boost in its latest financial results. the luxury british fashion house has seen like—for—like retail sales jump by 3%, while pre—tax profits climbed nearly 30%. isaid i said booberry! laughter burberry has had a boost. i will get the person who wrote that later! laughter joining us now is to tell us more is amber graafland, fashion and beauty director, the mirror. what is this about? a new financial director at burberry. is this because they are selling, or have we had a weak pound? i think you could conclude this about the week pound but there are huge changes going on at burberry. the new ceo will outline he was really going to look at products and i think product has basically been the answer here. they have a new designer, and the new collection for the house was unveiled in september and it was really well received. it is also about what they are selling and were? the marketplace for them is as important in asia as in europe? yes, very important for them. they are a huge global brand and i think the new designer unveiling his collection in september, 134 outfits, huge catwalk show by anyone's standards. he wanted to reflect the fact he understands his global market and he had something for everyone in that collection. global market and he had something for everyone in that collectionm this... a contract? it has been wobbly, in a bad place for a while. get a fight to keep their place but i think this is an exciting new chapter for i think this is an exciting new chapterfor a i think this is an exciting new chapter for a british heritage brands that we all know and have love for a long time. we will leave it there. amber, thank you very much. those burberry results are on the business live page. and we have this... sainsbury‘s, although the sale rose by 1.6%, saying the growth remains pretty poor overall. the boss has been telling the programme today that the competition authorities are looking to examine the deal with asda as well. yes, although they are not selling as many parsnips, one to look at is argos. yes, plenty more on the business live page if you wa nt to on the business live page if you want to know more about that story and plenty others as well. bbc.co.uk/business. your‘re watching business live — our top story: europe's economy is at a crossroads, with brexit, trade wars and fears over italy's finances weigh on the region's flagging economy. a quick look at how the markets are faring... european markets have risen across the board this morning. you can see the board this morning. you can see the pound versus the dollar. 1.31, been there for early solidly over the last days. a bit of an improvement in the value of the pound, stirling, over the last week, following some reports are some progress that might be made on brexit —— sterling. you may love them, you may hate them, but parents are under pressure to deliver... now let's get the inside track on children's parties... there are parents in the uk forking out an average of £218 — that's $286 — on parties, according to the nationwide current accounts survey, which surveyed 2,000 parents of children aged up to 18. more than half, 52%, admitted to blowing their original budget. ican i can completely believe that! the average number of children's birthday parties attended in the previous year was four, with the average spent on each child's birthday card and present £14. $14. $14, sorry, ithink $14, sorry, i think it has there, which is about £11. kind of the average. many of you will be listening to this and thinking, i wish our parties were that cheap, because they can go way beyond that. jessica kingsley, artistic director at magical quests — kids party entertainers is with us now. great to have you with us. how did it all begin? after graduating university i went into the world of acting, doing acting job, university i went into the world of acting, doing actingjob, spreading myself all over the place, not making enough money, waiting for the phone to rent, and i wondered how i could make more money while combining my love of children and theatre, and i thought, children's parties. this was starting to become a big thing in london about ten yea rs a big thing in london about ten years ago so a big thing in london about ten years ago so set up around chelsea in kensington and it started to go from there. those are very wealthy areas of london you mention, in south—west london. is it only the rich and super—rich who can outsource to your? the rest of us are all trying to make do. outsource to your? the rest of us are all trying to make dolj outsource to your? the rest of us are all trying to make do. i think you will be surprised. i get calls from all over london. i think when it comes to people's children they all want to spend money. we have different packages. yes, there are massive companies out there who will charge a fortune just to even speak to you about it on the phone. but ten yea rs to you about it on the phone. but ten years ago, as you say, it was just kind of getting a grip on the rich and wealthy who wanted to entertain their kids at the party, but now its huge business, and there are many events companies, children's parties are many events companies, child ren's parties organisers, are many events companies, children's parties organisers, and they get in the papers, these celebrity kids parties, thousands and thousands spent. and the children expected, and the parents do, so the pressure is on to have an amazing children's do, so the pressure is on to have an amazing child ren's party. do, so the pressure is on to have an amazing children's party. how do you get the kings? is it word—of—mouth, how does it differ? i have been very lucky. —— how do you get bookings? at each party you have 20—30 guests. i don't have to do much advertising. then i get usually a party off the back of it, and social media is the main thing. some people watching may be very envious and think, i would love this for my kids, and frankly can't afford it so we are all dressing up ourselves and doing pass the parcel, but what you have done is branch out into huge charitable aspects, so most 50% of your business is dedicated to bringing these parties to get to our u nfortu nate these parties to get to our unfortunate or have special needs... explain how that works and how you fund that. yes, we have talked about the extravagant parties. what normally happens, the people who pay for those parties help to pay for the charity work. we have a huge fund via the will trust in the pei for are huge christmas productions put on every year and we outreach to 3000 children across london, who get to see our shows, experienced the party atmosphere. these are the kind of children or parents can't take it toa of children or parents can't take it to a normal theatre, they would not sit still, they disrupt... we have done a lot of work with autistic children who can't go into mainstream building theatre, whether it is the light and something might upset them, or upset the audience. in british theatre, people don't wa nt in british theatre, people don't want noisy audiences. from a business point of view, how do you grow your business without compromising on quality? it is very important you have the right actors and storylines. that has been a big issue for me. my actors are amazing but they are not just great actors. they are trained to work brilliantly with children. my stories are very unique, and! with children. my stories are very unique, and i pride myself on my stories and adventures. butjust tell us those disaster stories, when the period arrives dressed for the royal and wants to be involved, you have to weave them in somehow? -- the parent arrives. if the mum or dad is desperate to be luke skywalker or princess leia, we can weave them in! what is the weirdest you have been asked to organise? we have done some weird halloween events, sweet 16 halloween events, but equally lovely events where we drove down to dover to make a little girl's dream come true to meet the famous five, and we took the dog down and took her on an adventure, so down and took her on an adventure, so weird and wonderful. the most extravagant? many extravagant parties. you had a narnia wedding? yeah, we did that for amanda logan, very much for the children, santana, sleighs, real reindeer. it sounds lovely! i think i willjust sit with jelly and ice cream! laughter great to have the programme, jessica. always love to hear from you, as you as you know. your thoughts on the samsung new device... this is how you can get in touch! stay in touch with all the day's business news as it happens on the bbc‘s business live page. there is insight and analysis from our team of editors write a around the globe eilidh macleod and we want to hear from you. get involved on the bbc‘s business live page. and on twitter you can get us, and fine us on facebook at bbc money. business live, on tv and online — what you need to know, when you need to know. thanks for getting in touch. many have shared your thoughts on that some sun device. some of you saying you're not quite sure if it is a tv, ta blet you're not quite sure if it is a tv, tablet or what. —— that samsung pay device. samsung are saying it will not be on the market that soon. —— that samsung device. they are teasing us and leading us know it will be out soon. what do you think, richard? folding phone? no, my ancient iphone will do the trick until it breaks down then i might look at their product. laughter 0k. what other business stories has the media been taking an interest in? this is goldman sachs. 69 new partners at this big investment banking firm, and the highest percentage ever, about one in five. should we be celebrating that, i was saying, come on, is only one in five? they are celebrating it but aspiring to do better, as i think most firms are, but i would say even down at the graduate level and at school level it is difficult to get applications from women coming in, in that profession, and the profession and industry in general is doing its best to get more applications and get the balance much better. why is application still an issue, at that graduate stage? is it a perception issue? what are you doing to change that? we are trying to change the perception. i think the perception is banking, asset management in general. in fact, what we are trying to do make retirements betterfor all our customers, to protect our customers and do the right thing by oui’ customers and do the right thing by our customers, customers and do the right thing by oui’ customers, s0 customers and do the right thing by our customers, so it is much more a social good, the perception some have, but that perception is there even more so have, but that perception is there even more so since have, but that perception is there even more so since the financial crisis and we have to do our best to try to change that and get those applications in. it is great. goldman sachs grabbing the headlines for hiring more, well, giving partnerships to more women, minority groups, etc. that is important, isn't it, in getting the message out? to be there, looking at the 69 people given the golden ticket yesterday, it does look diverse. diverse by background, education, geography, class, by the division within goldman sachs, so i think they have done a good job and it is a fabulous for many aspire to work for. yet only 69 partners but their workforce and sales are growing. it seems a little stingy. presumably they are doing it in order to make it aspirational. you know, "you can be one of these people too." at the end of the day not everyone can run the business and goldman ‘s a good business. it is tough times and not as easy for these firms to make money, not as much... you know, regulation, the volume of trading around. richard, we will leave it there for the moment. what's more on that story, if you're interested in it, on our website as well. this story about goldman sachs and some of the new partners at the firm. we wa nt of the new partners at the firm. we want should just discuss with you some news we are hearing at the bbc. we're getting reports of a shooting at a bar in los angeles. it's reported to have happened at a nightclub in thousand oaks — it's called the borerline bar and grill. there are reported to have been several injuries. the gunman is reported to be still at large, and of course the police at large, and of course the police at the scene are trying to get this under control at the moment. there is very little news coming through right now, but that is what we have been hearing. this is happening at a barand been hearing. this is happening at a bar and dance hall in southern california, late wednesday night, their time, something unfolding. as we have said we do believe the person who has got the weapon is still at large. police trying to get the situation under control, and we will have more on that story when we hear it hopefully at the top of the hour. that is now on the bbc website so hour. that is now on the bbc website so you hour. that is now on the bbc website so you can hour. that is now on the bbc website so you can head there for reports. reports from police of a mass shooting in california. the weather will remain fairly u nsettled the weather will remain fairly unsettled over the next few days. rain and showers in the forecast. western parts will see the majority of showers and rain, blustery conditions were fairly strong wind. that is because your closest to this area of low pressure and a weather front across these western parts, giving that rain to today. towards central and eastern parts and the north of scotland some showers this morning. those most likely running away and it is just really south—west england, west wales, eventually far north—western part of england, east of northern ireland and the south west of scotland that will see the rain. blustery conditions for you. towards the north—west and south—east of that, mostly dry and bright actually this afternoon with some sunshine and still relatively mild with temperatures of about 11—14 degrees. through tonight that rain will continue to spread north into scotland, clearing from the south—west. again, staying quite cloudy here, keeping temperatures up about 8—10 degrees. in eastern and western areas perhaps a bit chillier on friday morning. but during friday this low pressure area moves and you can notice the white lines become closer together across the uk so and windy day for most of us on friday and there will be some gales around those western exposed coasts, potentially up to about 17 mph and on top of that some heavy rain moving in as well. looking at that, that rain spread swiftly into northern ireland and south—west england and across wales, some heavy rain, particularly in the south of wales in south—west england. you will notice some greens here. eastern areas staying largely drive. these are the gusts expected on friday. wendy for all us but especially around those irish sea coasts, and still in the mild category —— it will be windy for all of us. temperatures 11—14d. into the weekend, that rain will clear away but it will remain quite unsettled really. still some showers around, quite breezy, but fairly mild. those temperatures, both saturday and sunday, about 11—14dc. some showers over the weekend but not a real wash—out. plenty of dry and sunny weather in between showers but still also quite blustery conditions as well. that is all from me. have a good day. bye—bye. you're watching bbc news at nine with me, annita mcveigh. the headlines: prince charles vows to keep his opinions to himself when he becomes king. in his own words, he's not that stupid to meddle. on the eve of his 70th birthday he tells a bbc documentary it was worth taking a risk to set up the prince's trust to help disadvantaged young people if it didn't work, it didn't work. but it was worth trying with the most difficult ones, the ones you find hardest to reach in society. breaking news from california where there are reports that multiple people are injured

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