and we'll be getting the inside track on flexible workspace. demand in the uk has exploded, outstripping new york by some margin. but is the growth sustainable? we'll talk to the founder of the uk shared workspace provider, huckletree. and as we've been hearing single‘s day, invented by chinese giant alibaba, has smashed sales records again and is the world's biggest online shopping day after black friday and cyber monday. so today we want to know — do you go on shopping sprees during promotions or are you wary of ‘bargains‘? tell us — just use the hashtag bbcbizlive. do get in touch with your cautionary tales and top tips, we want to hear it all. we start with oil, which has jumped after opec's top producer saudi arabia signalled a cut in output next month. that was as major crude producers — meeting in abu dhabi to address the recent slide in prices — said supply next year would outstrip demand. opec members currently produce a total of around 33 million barrels every day. these are the two most powerful players in the organisation — mohammed barkindo — opec‘s secretary general, and khalid al—falih — saudi arabia's oil minister, who said the kingdom is ready to cut its production by 500,000 barrels per day in december. the us and russia are also major producers — at a rate of around 11 million barrels per day each. and the us especially has been supplying so much more oil to the global market that it's dragged the price down. you can get a real sense of the bumpy ride we have experienced over the last 12 months. and a significant slide from that peak there when it comes to the price of oil. with me is nick coleman, senior oil analyst at s&p global platts. good morning. on the face of it, the comments made in saudi arabia have pushed up the price a little, haven't they? brent up by about 2%. but it isn't an agreement amongst all opec members at all, is it? not at all. one significant player, who was absent were the iranians, of course, yesterday. the saudis were hedging their bets slightly, they wa nt to hedging their bets slightly, they want to see what will happen. they have this formal opec meeting next month when the real decisions get taken. at the moment, things are in flux. only last week were the sanctions against iran. everybody wa nts to sanctions against iran. everybody wants to see how that plays out in the next few weeks. absolutely. do you think the talk in abu dhabi would have been, amongst the opec members, that it is also the rise in production in the us that is causing problematic? because it is a record high, isn't it? it is. stock levels in the us are high. they have been rising for about two months. these are rising for about two months. these a re closely rising for about two months. these are closely watched storage levels of oil. the us is a key market for oil. the us economy is absolutely crucial to this. however, oil. the us economy is absolutely crucialto this. however, we oil. the us economy is absolutely crucial to this. however, we talk about the fact that oil producing nations have seen the price rise, but what about the consumer? this 20% drop since october has actually been pretty good, hasn't it, for many consuming nations? the likes of indonesia and to some extent india grappling with high inflation. right, and people in the oil industry to think about at what point do we reach a level where people start to consume less. i have heard ceos talk about $80 brent futures price, slightly getting into dodgy territory where people actually start to use less oil. they do have to think about not causing a price spike, as well. it is a fine balance. there is a central bank of oil, sort of, and people pass every sentence he says to work out what he is meaning, he will give a steel where he is going. against this we have the paris climate agreement and all of these targets, yet we see consumption rising still rapidly around the world. do you think that is still concentrating minds, because at some point our oil producing nations —— our oil producing nations —— our oil producing nations —— our oil producing nations thinking it'll be offa producing nations thinking it'll be off a cliff demand? our transition away from oil is much talked about in the media. people have talk about what is the need for the oil in the future. investors must think about it, as well. investors, especially in the big oil companies, i think are thinking twice about this question of will there be some sort of peak in consumption in about ten yea rs. of peak in consumption in about ten years. opec oil ministers are also looking at the hard numbers, which are looking at the hard numbers, which a re clearly looking at the hard numbers, which are clearly that oil consumption is rising year—on—year by more than 1 million barrels per day. probably around 100 million barrels consumed at the moment per day. thanks very much. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news... received approval to list on the tokyo stock exchange in an initial public offering worth $21.04 billion. the unit, softbank corp, is set to list on the exchange sometime next month. the move will mark the transformation of the firm from a mobile network provider into one of the world's biggest technology investors. spirits giant diageo has sold 19 brands to us company sazerac in a deal worth $550 million. among the brands included in the sale are seagram's v0, booth‘s and john begg. the firm says the net proceeds of around $438 million, after tax and transaction costs, will be returned to shareholders through a share buyback programme. europe's biggest technology company, sap, has agreed to buy qualtrics international for $8 billion in cash, pre—empting the us. enterprise software compa ny‘s plans to go public. this is sap‘s largest deal to date topping its 2014 acquisition of concur technologies for $7.2 billion. italy's economy minister is looking to revise down his country's budget growth forecast for next year to try to reach a deal with the european commission over fiscal policy — according to a government source. the commission rejected italy's fiscal plan for 2019 last month and gave rome until tuesday to present a new budget. let's talk singles day. there are staggering statistics out today about how much money went in seconds, hours, and minutes. alibaba pulled in a record $30.7 billion in sales during yesterday's 24—hour online retail frenzy singles‘ day. it certainly was a frenzy. the chinese company invented the occasion to celebrate the unattached in 2009. it has since become the world's biggest online sales event. sarah toms is in singapore... interesting, though, although we have heard these record sales, sales growth slowdown, tinted? that's right. it was a manic day. —— didn't it? after 24 hours of buying, selling, and advertising on november 11, alibaba selling, and advertising on november 11, aliba ba announced selling, and advertising on november 11, alibaba announced its sales soared past last's record of $25 billion. alibaba is often compared to amazon. they also said it broke more records the first $1 billion of sales was completed in a staggering one minute and 25 seconds. with almost 200,000 brands up for grabs. it was shopping heaven. shoppers we re it was shopping heaven. shoppers were snapping up a vast range of products from iphones, to furniture, to milk powder, even cars. they won't just buying to milk powder, even cars. they won'tjust buying online, analysts said more purchases were done through the mobile app. something like 300% increase on the apple alone. with this year's record $30 billion of sales, increased about 2796 billion of sales, increased about 27% compared with last's total. despite that, it is less spectacular than the 40% growth recorded last year. that's because alibaba is coming under pressure from china's slowing economy. new rivals are also appearing in the e—commerce industry. and it forget the trade war with the us. —— and do not forget. we cannot. shopping hell, shopping heaven? sell us —— send us your thoughts. it was a pretty lacklustre day in asia, not much going on, market in a bit of a holding pattern until midweek when we will get economic news out of the middle east and china. let's take a look at europe. oil companies pushing things up. total up over 1% in france. the price of oil has gone up in france. the price of oil has gone up some 2%. brent today already a big loser —— brent today already up. menthol cigarettes are to be banned. really interesting. a british company and newport, which is the biggest menthol cigarette brand in the us, which will be a real blow to bat. and kim gittleson has the details of what's ahead on wall street today. there will be a focus on america's retailers. we will be getting data from jcpenney, nordstrom, and macy's, as well as walmart. when it comes to walmart, investors will be curious to see what impact tariffs have had at the company. walmart warned earlier it'll have to increase the prices of some of its goods as a result of tariffs imposed on chinese imports into the us. after a ll on chinese imports into the us. after all of that, we will get a larger picture of the american retailing landscape when october retailing landscape when october retail sales are released on thursday. investors will then be curious to see what proportion of those sales are coming from brick and mortar stores, which have been struggling recently due to the rise of e—commerce sites like amazon. joining us is ritu vohora, investment director at m&g investments. let's talk about all of those announcements, and numbers out in the us later, what are we expecting? that is what the market are subdued because so much data is coming out. on wednesday, data from the us, it is looking to have slowed down there particularly with the energy prices early in the year. retail sales have been weaker. the market will be looking at any tone which has been set by the chinese slowdown. we will have a picture of the world's two biggest economies which are at each other when it comes to trade. it'll bea other when it comes to trade. it'll be a good indicator of the health of the world economy, and what the us is doing, which has been the forerunnerfor the is doing, which has been the forerunner for the rest of the world. whether that deviation carries on, whether china has slowed down. it would be adjusting to see what that does on wednesday. despite these record sales on single state, invented by alibaba, it has slowed. and that adds to the data from last week about china's economy about a slowdown. i think it was $1 billion of sales in about 85 seconds. prydie phenomenal. but you mentioned earlier that it is down about 18% on last year. —— which is pretty phenomenal. i think the market is still waiting to see what the health of the economy is saying. but i think it shows that the consumer is pretty strong, given the levels of sales we have seen. what is on your radar? are you watching the brexit cabinet meeting tomorrow? lots of turmoil over the weekend. sterling is down a little bit because of that turmoil. absolutely. the brexit uncertainty continues. there are more concerned as to whether the cabinet meeting will go ahead today. theresa may could get that draft the plan arguably by tomorrow which is when the deadline was. ultimately that impact, will we have this eu summit later? the more uncertainty, from the conservatives, questions over her leadership, it brings uncertainty as to whether this summit will happen. ultimately i think brexit will get a deal, but it is whether theresa may will still be around come that time. thank you very much. still to come... the uk has seen massive growth in the market for flexible workspace. can it last? we'll get the inside track from the founder and ceo at the shared workspace provider, huckletree you're with business live from bbc news. first, let's talk shopping, but we're not talking about e—commerce, we're not talking about e—commerce, we are talking about bricks and mortar footfall. footfall in the uk's brick—and—mortar retailers fell by 2% in october compared to last year. that's according to a report from the british retail consortium and springboard. with retail becoming more digital, vacancy rates have risen to 9.6%, a 15—month high. rachel lund from the brcjoins us. it is another gloomy picture ofjust how things are on the high street. you are right. what we are seeing is an ongoing trend of falling footfall through the high street. as people are shopping more and more online, fa ct are shopping more and more online, fact is they are going to the high—street less. fact is they are going to the high-street less. things are getting very difficult. some retailers in particular we know are hanging in the balance right now. in terms of what the government proposed in the budget, how helpful were some of the changes they announced as they tried to inject more life into the high—street? to inject more life into the high-street? not helpful. they offered some relief to smaller businesses. but that was only temporary. it'll only help a small proportion of retailers. the vast majority of people working retail are employed by big retailers who will not benefit from this change in business rates. ultimately isn't it up business rates. ultimately isn't it up to the retailers to offer something more? we have seen the might of alibaba. how you can compete against the giants like amazon. it is cut to be about experience. perhaps these retailers are not offering that to customers. you are right. retailers having to transform themselves to make it more about experience. if you cost of business is going up so fast you don't have money to invest and transform your business, then that isn't a viable option for you. are you at the brc calling for more taxes on retailers? not at all. we are saying that the retail sector should face a lower burden of taxation. the government should think across, and think about how businesses are taxed as a whole. thanks very much. there is more news on the banning of menthol cigarettes in america, you can find out more about that story on the website. your're watching business live — our top story: oil prices have rebounded after saudi arabia signalled that an output cut is in the pipeline. oil producers want to halt a price slump, which has seen crude slide by a fifth since early october. now let's get the inside track on flexible workspace. research shows demand for flexible workspace across the uk saw record growth in 2017. take—up in the uk's largest regional cities increased from 2% of all city centre lettings in 2016 to 7.5% of take—up last year. london remains the global capital for co—working spaces, easily outstripping new york. since 2012, flexible workplace leasing has represented an average 2.9% of the market in manhattan, compared to 10.6% in london. an estimated 1.7 million people will be working in around 19,000 co—working spaces globally by the end of 2018. 29% of all co—working spaces around the world were opened in just the past year. there is a realfrenzy there is a real frenzy going there is a realfrenzy going on in this marketplace at the moment. with us is gabriela hersham, founder and ceo at uk shared workspace provider, huckletree. good morning. tell us how you got involved, when did you think this was a good business to get into, was it before the deluge? slightly before. but there were already key players in the market. for us it was about building something that could cater to the tech scene which we thought would explode in london and the uk, and building a place for them to come together. this was back in 2010? 2014. about four years ago, 0k, in 2010? 2014. about four years ago, ok, how did you find this process of starting a business, what were some of the challenges you face to? starting a business, what were some of the challenges you face mm was of the challenges you face to?m was difficult. i didn't have a background in business. —— you faced. it was a male dominated investment world. trying to raise money was challenging because of that. growing on that, we had lots of stories anecdotally in our community, not only about female, but ethnic minority founders who have experienced similar problems while fundraising, as well. he found this wasn't just anecdotal? while fundraising, as well. he found this wasn'tjust anecdotal? yes. we wa nted this wasn'tjust anecdotal? yes. we wanted to cover the landscape of uk and ireland and find out what the actual situation was. we interviewed about 200 founders. we tried to understand who had experienced challenges during fund—raising over and above what you would expect to be normal. the results were quite shocking. we discovered thatjust under 50% of founders had either experienced discrimination first—hand, or knew somebody who had. this is shocking. we feel that the uk and ireland are advanced countries, yet the still exists. and it is the global centre for shared workspace, and those who want those provisions are people starting out, those beginning a business, or working as a sole trader, that kind of thing. they are the kind of people who need investment. yes, they are. most of our members are start—ups, scale out, businesses who go on to raise investment. and the flip side, investors. people looking to invest in technology. you would think putting all of these people together would open up the world of fund raising and the possibilities. what have you used this research for to differentiate yourself in the market? the purpose wasn't to do that, the purpose was to take a stand for the topics our members are facing. off the back of the research, we have become passionate about equalising the landscape and doing our bit to do that. how do you stand out? you started four years ago. the market has grown rapidly. even the traditional players like regis are providing flexible workspace, but also companies who we re workspace, but also companies who were not in this industry at all, but just want to make were not in this industry at all, butjust want to make money by renting out empty parts of their offices. sure, the landscape is hugely competitive now. we have a curated membership policy. we are able to ensure all of our members are able to operate in the wider technology remit. for our members it is very much about knowing who you are working next to. members want to learn from more seasoned entrepreneurs. the seasoned entrepreneurs. the seasoned entrepreneurs want to give back to the community. i think that duration approach as seen us the community. i think that duration approach as seen us grow our communities in a way which is interesting. thanks very much. and good luck. we shall keep an eye. in a moment we will talk to you about your comment about singles day and surfing. it is all happening. this is how to get in touch... stay up—to—date with all of the day's business news as it happens on the bbc‘s business live page. there is inside analysis from our team of editors around the globe. and we wa nt to editors around the globe. and we want to hear from you, too. editors around the globe. and we want to hearfrom you, too. get involved on the web page... what you need to know when you need to know. we were asking a little bit about what you think about all of these big promotions like cyber monday, singles day, that kind of thing, what is your opinion, do you wait for a thing, what is your opinion, do you waitfora bargain? thing, what is your opinion, do you wait for a bargain? i love shopping soi wait for a bargain? i love shopping so i don't wait for the big sales. but if i'm looking at big ticket items, tvs, refrigerators, itend to wait for black friday. with the friends and we were discussing, which was experienced on sunday, as in singles day, people who are hard—core act this, they will have several devices going at once. there must be that whole thing, a system of things going down, you are desperate to purchase something. this message says november is one big sale, you get what you would buy anything at a lower price, so it is clear some people are looking at everything. william from glasgow, these were explained as could ology, further reductions will be seen up until christmas, it just goes reductions will be seen up until christmas, itjust goes on and on. these events are not helped by price rises in the months beforehand. exaggerating the discount! andy, interesting comment there. that is to go look at some of the other stories in the papers. —— let's take a look. this push for retailers to take more responsibility as far as recycling costs are concerned. many consumers saying this is a good idea, perhaps there will be less packaging. it's a challenge. retailers pay a small amount in terms of the costs which goes into collecting and recycling. in the uk we export about two thirds of our plastic packaging. there is an onus about the long—term sustainability, particularly with countries like china saying they are banning exported plastics to their country. as more countries to this the owners comes on to uk companies as to how do we deal with our garbage as a long—term sustainable thing. they might have to deal with the cost of the garbage, and this is compounded by the stress on the high street at the moment. exactly. it'll start a compound margins. as the government makes that 17 million, and they are talking about 500 to a billion, it is a question of sustainability and the environment and the longevity of the companies as well. experiment. -- thanks very much. that's it from business live today. there will be more business news throughout the day on the bbc live webpage and on world business report. we'll see you again tomorrow. the forecast today is fairly similar to that of over the weekend. a mixture of sun and sunshine and showers. some showers will be heavy, you might get caught up in a downpour. blustery conditions with those showers, as well. this is because of this area of low pressure out towards the west feeding in these showers. some rain in the far south—east of england. that'll mostly clear. still some around english channel coasts, which will be felt in northern and western areas, because the further east you areas, because the further east you are it is looking dry and bright. still the risk of the odd shower along southern coast, but more so around wales, north—west england, and up into towards scotland. some of these will be on the heavy side. in between, sunshine coming back through. quite blustery conditions. it isn't going to be desperately cold, maximum temperatures today getting up to 11, to 15 degrees. through this evening and overnight, showers will continue over western and southern areas. if anything that rain will become heavier towards the far south—east of england overnight tonight. elsewhere, then the clear spells and temperatures down to about six to 8 degrees. during tuesday, starting with showers, but very quickly those showers tend to disappear. for many on tuesday it will be a drier and brighter day. lots of sunshine throughout. cloud thickening across northern ireland later. that wind is still coming from the south and south—west. temperatures up to 11, to 14, 15 degrees, about average for the time of year. wednesday, cloudier and wetter towards scotland, north—west england and north—west wales and northern ireland, breaking up into showers later on. keeping this mild south—westerly. not of orange on the map. temperatures getting up to the mid teens. perhaps 17 degrees tours the south—east of england on wednesday. into thursday, high—pressure developing towards eastern parts. that continues to draw in this mild airfrom the south. rather settled by the end of the week. it'll be mild. light winds. but when you get moist air and light winds there is the risk of some fog. you're watching bbc news at nine with me carole walker. the headlines: pressure mounts on theresa may as she tries to get cabinet backing for a brexit withdrawal deal, as labour says there could be another referendum if we would call the general election, if that didn't happen, we must have all options on the table and that includes the option of a public vote. at least 31 people have died and more than 220 are missing as wildfires sweep california. council tenants on universal credit are struggling to pay rent. a bbc investigation finds arrears are two—and—a—half times higher than tenants still receiving the old housing benefit. a former fruit farm supervisor appears in court in australia