Amid growing concern from the us and its allies. Heres how the trading day has got off to a start in europe. Everyone waiting for an update on Economic Growth in the United States later. Well be diving into that and more in the next half hour. And well be getting the inside track on the big stories of the week with our economics correspondent Andrew Walker, including trade talks between asian economies and the us today we want to know. The Actor Daniel Craig says james bond, the famously un pc 70s male hero will be played, he says, with an eye on changing attitudes to gender politics. Do you want to see a more politically correct bond on screen . Does the bond franchise still have a place in todays world . Let us know just use the hashtag bbcbizlive. Hello and welcome to business live. Welcome to the programme. Thank you forjoining us. We start with amazon because the worlds Biggest Online retailer just got bigger. It has raked in another huge quarter of revenues as it rides the boom in online shopping. Growth is slowing down but importantly for its investors, amazon is starting to make more profit. Lets show you some of the numbers. Amazon made revenues ofjust under 60 billion in the three months to the end of march. Up 17 on the same period last year and better than expected. But its still far slower than the company has been used to of late. Heres the important bit, though 3. 5 billion of that was profit, more than double the amount it made last year. Thats a whole year of record profits. Investors have long been concerned that amazon vast though it is doesnt make enough money, because margins on Online Retailing are too small, and its spending too much on new ventures. But some of those ventures are really starting to pay off. For example, amazons seeing huge growth in providing Cloud Computing services to companies. Amazon web services saw sales jump over 41 . With us is miya knights, head of Industry Insight at eagle eye solutions. Thanks very much forjoining us. One of the headline grabbing bits of all of the headline grabbing bits of all of this was that amazon said it would cut its delivery time for its prime customers from two dates to one. Why . I can only assume it once to show that prime continues to be valuable and it wants to give people who have not already signed up to prime and extra reason to do so. The interesting thing is people are paying for the privilege, i suppose, of being in the one day delivery ecosystem. We already get this in the uk. But the chief Financial Officer believes that by offering people quicker delivery they will end up buying more overall, do you buy into that . I think it is proven to work. The prime ecosystem including movies, music, audiobooks, all sorts of Multimedia Entertainment and rapid Delivery Services really sucks customers in when you know something can be with you within a day or an hour with qatar prime now. Lots of consumers that have their details already registered, the app downloaded, the one click credit card registered, to default to amazon and know it will turn up without having to plan a trip to the shops. It is incredibly seductive, that swipe and buy. Do you think it can really do business in terms of convenience of being able to go to a shop and buy and go home with age . Can it really compete with bricks and mortar . Anderson has tried to close the gap on the brick and mortar advantage of immediacy and be able to try and buy, using a number of things, initially lockers so you could pick up a package at a designated time. Interesting in the states where they are rolling it out, they are introducing ring technology, the clever door bell with the video entry which necessarily can allow amazon delivery drivers into your house or garage. They had tried delivery to trunk. There are so many ways they are trying to close the gap and get the products to you faster and at the products to you faster and at the same time at a time that is convenient to you when you might miss a home delivery. We will had to leave it there, but it isa we will had to leave it there, but it is a fascinating company and i am sure we will talk about it soon. Thank you. Lets take a look at some of the other stories making the news. Social media giant facebook is suing a company and three people based in new zealand for allegedly selling fake likes, views and followers to instagram users. The lawsuit, filed in us federal court, alleged that defendants used Different Companies and websites to sell those fake engagement services. Taxi app company uber could be about to announce its much anticipated stock market listing. According to reuters, it will unveil plans later on today for an initial Public Offering that would value the company at between 80 and 90 billion. Shares of the carmaker ford surged in after hours trading after it revealed results that were much better than expected and predicted a strong 2019. It has been boosted by strong sales of pick up trucks in its core us market. Just a quick story before we turn to asia. Port talbot in the uk. Theres been an explosion followed by fires at the steel plant in port talbot, wales belonging to the indian giant tata. It is now under control, and there have been no injuries. Images on social media showing fla mes images on social media showing flames and plumes of smoke pouring out of this a few hours ago. As you might remember, tata has invested about 50 million in this plant, the uks largest steelworks, to refit a blast furnace. They have pledged about i blast furnace. They have pledged abouti billion blast furnace. They have pledged about i billion p blast furnace. They have pledged abouti billion p worth of investment over ten years if Market Conditions allow. Nobody hurt, but quite big pictures travelling around social media, but dont worry if you do see them. Alarming stuff. More than 30 World Leaders are gathering in beijing for a summit on the belt and road initiative. Thats a trillion dollar plan to link china with its export markets around the world via new ports, roads and railways a modern version of the ancient silk road. Stephen mcdonell is in beijing. Why has this initiative been so cautiously received . Before i talk about the caution, perhaps i should explain why people are initially enthusiastic and why dozens are initially enthusiastic and why d oze ns of are initially enthusiastic and why dozens of World Leaders might have come to beijing to give some face to xijingping for come to beijing to give some face to xi jingping for his come to beijing to give some face to xijingping for his pet come to beijing to give some face to xi jingping for his pet project, come to beijing to give some face to xijingping for his pet project, his gift to the world, if you like. That is because, on the face of it, the belt and road initiative, what is not to like . China will lend money and use its Technical Expertise to help developing countries build up transport infrastructure and so with roads, trains, bridges, their economies will be linked up with the rest of the world and essentially help everybody thrive economically, what it is not to like . Well, one of the problems is the debt associated with loans, and critics had said that china is lending money to these countries to build projects using its own companies and infrastructure know how, and these countries will never be able to make the repayments in seven cases. The other problem is that xijingping in his in seven cases. The other problem is that xi jingping in his speech today said there would be more transparency associated with the belt and road initiative. If that comes to pass, it will be a shift, because at the moment we dont know what the budgets are, we dont have a list of last years projects compared to this years, it is more ofa compared to this years, it is more of a slogan, a movable feast and china can make whatever it likes of the belton road forum so many people would call for a much clearer explanation of the parameters of h. Thank you, stephen. What have the markets been up to . Despite lots of investor excitement at tech sector results, which pushed microsoft above the milestone of a one trillion dollar valuation, us stocks ended lower on average. Concerns about slowing Global Growth were weighing on the minds of investors. Trading light in asia, investors in a Holding Pattern ahead of an update on us gdp that were expecting later. Disappointment injapan that a sharp drop in industrial output in q1 could lead to a mile contraction in growth for the same period. In europe, this is how the main indices are performing so far. All of them in the red, continuing the poor performance. Yesterday sentiment was dampened by disappointing banking results, and the brakes being put on consolidation by Deutsche Bank and commerzbank. Concerns about growth in europe too with European Central bank saying the door was open to more money printing. All quantitative easing. And Michelle Fleury has the details of whats ahead on wall street today. Donald trump hosts japanese Prime Minister shinzo abe in washington this friday. The meeting comes a day after top trade negotiators from both countries held a second round of talks on a possible trade deal. Now, the us wants better access to japans agriculture market, while japan wants guarantees it wont be hit by us tariffs on car imports. Meanwhile, americas ongoing trade dispute with china could weigh on First Quarter profits from global grain trader Archer Daniels midland, and as the earnings parade rolls on, the oil industry is one to watch, with lower quarterly profit likely from exxonmobil and chevron as they continue to expand into shale oil. Also the grounding of boeing 737 max jets is expected to weigh on American Airlines First Quarter profits after it was forced to cancel thousands of flights. On the economic front, us Gross Domestic Product data for the first three months of this year show growth actually picked up towards the end of the quarter. Michelle fleury in new york. Joining us is randeep somel, the director of Global Equities at the fund manager m g. Is everybody in a Holding Pattern until this us gdp figure comes out later . A little. South korea numbers came out and they disappointed, japan has done the same. These are very heavy export orientated electronic and car manufacturing industries, whereas the us is a much different beast. We will see if this isa different beast. We will see if this is a global issue or if those issues in particular are rooted to asia. Lets talk about the tech sector, there is a lot to get investors excited about at the moment. For your money, where should we be looking in terms of tech . Anderson and microsoft have brought out wonderful results, microsoft surpassing i trillion in market capitalisation. The structural shift to Cloud Computing continues, you talked about the percentage increases, this is long term. Not only other top lines growing, profitability is growing, we have reached a Critical Mass where you can grow the business and profits at the same time. The valuations are getting up there. The boom intake in the last few days is not overshadowing those general concerns about Economic Growth, interesting to hearan about Economic Growth, interesting to hear an official from the European Central bank talking about more quantitative easing, more money being printed . For the past few yea rs being printed . For the past few years europe has been lacking. The Federal Reserve and the us has gone away from expansion to try to calm the economy down. Asia has been strong, quite volatile. Europe has remained in the childrens and i think the ecb is trying to see what else they can do to boost the economy. To come back later, we have some paper stories to run through. Do come back later. Still to come well be talking trade with our economics editor Andrew Walker, as the us seeks to do a trade deal with japan and the stand off with china still continues. Youre with business live from bbc news. A day after confirming that boss ross mcewan is leaving the bank, rbs hasjust announced profit of £1 billion for the First Quarter of 2019. Thats down from from £1. 2 billion in the same period in 2018. Frances coppola is an independent banking analyst, shes in our newsroom. Welcome. I guess this is Something Else that ross mcewan can point to as more evidence that his job is done . Maybe not him but perhaps the board. He wanted to stay until 2020 so board. He wanted to stay until 2020 so his departure is early, suggesting that at board level there isa suggesting that at board level there is a feeling he is not the right person to take the bank forward now. He said he would leave in 2020 and is planning on working out its 12 month notice, so it does not sound like he is leaving ahead of time . 0k, like he is leaving ahead of time . Ok, if you look at it like that. But it still feels very sudden and abrupt. Immediately before the agm at which there was going to be an argument about his pension contributions and before some underwhelming results, maybe that is just the way that ich, a bit precipitous, shall we say . Lets focus on the health of the bank, it is back in good health again but they decided to warn about brexit. In what way is it saying it could weigh on its future revenues . The uncertainty is beginning to hit in all divisions. Its lending is down, people are deferring decisions, really. People are beginning that is beginning to affect its growth. Briefly if you plan, 67 of shares still owned by uk taxpayers, any update on plans to return to private ownership . The treasury indicated it was hoping to sell them by 2024, but with brexit uncertainty dragging on and evidence that the bank is suffering from that, it might be delayed. Thank you very much. Another story on the business live page, 9 another story on the business live page, go there if you want updates on the nearest news. Sas pilots in norway, sweden and denmark have gone on strike today after wage talks broke down, prompting the airline to cancel domestic, european and long haul flights. The company says 673 flights will be cancelled, affecting more than 72,000 passengers. You are watching business live, our top story. The Online Retail giant amazon has posted a fourth successive quarter of record profit. Lots of records there. Lets look at how the markets are firing at the moment. Slightly underwhelming. A bit ofa a bit of a Holding Pattern going on, as ranjit said, as we are expecting news on the worlds biggest economy. From an upbeat us economy to the ongoing trade challenges for washington and beijing, its been another busy week in news. Our economics correspondent Andrew Walker is here to look at some of big stories that have been causing waves. Let talk more about the us. Lets talk more. We have had to be debated at are big data, what we expecting . Intensive Economic Growth, the first estimate looks like it will not be much different from the previous quarter. In terms of Economic Growth. I have seen one suggestion suggesting slightly more than the previous quarters 2. 2 , and the other suggests slightly less. If you look at the simple quarter on quarter figures rather than the annualised ones, it would suggest not much change. There may be things going on, there is an expectation that will be quite a lot of building up of stocks of finished goods central materials, that cannot be continued. And also perhaps some quite strong export performances in the context of difficulties globally, again, something that might not continue. Looking at the figures underneath, maybe not quite so strong. President trump thinks that the us can sustain 396 trump thinks that the us can sustain 3 indefinitely, most economists would not share that view and that is not the kind of figure we will see ina is not the kind of figure we will see in a few hours. People will be looking for evidence with the trade war of china having a development, we are expecting a breakthrough, is it next week . Eloquence and us officials are going to beijing next week to continue talks about trying to resolve this great trade conflict with china. President trump has, rather unexpectedly, suggested he might have a summit with president xi of china quite soon. There is still a significant amount of work for them to do on, for example, how quickly the us will remove its punitive ta riffs the us will remove its punitive tariffs on china if there is an agreement. The us wants to keep them for at least a while to try to encourage the chinese to comply with whatever deal is done. The us is in talks with japan, japan resisting increasing pressure from the us to link trade with currency issues, leaders meeting today . This is a meeting President Trump is having, we have a date for that later on today. He is meeting the japanese Prime Minister shinzo abe. One of theissues Prime Minister shinzo abe. One of the issues is. Certainly President Trump takes the view that the japanese Currency Exchange rates gives japanese exporters an unfair advantage and he would like to see something on any agreement that addresses that. The problem is that the japanese view is that the currency is basically affected by the Central Banks policy at very low interest rates, quantitative easing, which is pushing down the value of the yen. They say it is not driven by a desire to get a competitive advantage, just because demand is so weak that they think it needs this ultralow interest policy. The us is ratcheting up the pressure this week. Curious timing when oil tends to be in more demand in the us, because everybody goes a long holidays . And there are supply issues, opec has been restricting production and we saw the price hit a six month high in the aftermath of this decision not to extend the waivers that eight countries have been given from us sanctions while they are buying iranians oil. They expand at the end of the month. Inevitably the news that this was coming pushed the price up a little. Upsetting that it is the expectation, certainly, that President Trump and lots of people in the markets have that saudi arabia and one or two others will make up the loss of a reigning export that undoubtedly will follow. Thank you very much, Andrew Walker. 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. Stay up to date with all the days Business News as it happens on the bbcs business live page. There is insight and analysis from our team of editors right around the globe. And we want to hear from you, too. Get involved on the bbcs business live web page, at bbc. Com business. On twitter, we are bbcbusiness. And you can find us on facebook at bbc money. Business live, on tv and online. What you need to know, when you need to know. With the new bond movie coming up next year, we have been asking if you think the franchises up to date in the modern era. Mark says, i think a bit like batman, a good bond depends on the director. Certain directors make the films feel fresh again, but what about the fact he is again, but what about the fact he is a white man in a suit saving the world . A white man in a suit saving the world . Barry says i think it has already moved on with the times, we have not seen a bond slap a female bottom for a few years. I should have checked that before reading that out loud happy friday. Jerome says bond is bond, vote with your feet and dont watch if you dont like the character. Iama like the character. I am a suckerfor the glamour, if i am honest. Kenny says i have always watched bond but after the last film i feel there is nowhere he can go or carry on, film making has changed in the last ten years. It might be interesting to see sponsors demand changes, they do not wa nt to sponsors demand changes, they do not want to be tied to anything they see as old fashioned. Randeep somel is back with us, we have a piece in the new york times, regulators around the world cycling facebook. Earlier this week we heard there was a sizeable amount of money aside to cover a likely fine over privacy concerns . They have had decisions withjeff discussions with the ftc. The good news from facebooks perspective is they are at a stage where they are discussing the fines, it means theyre probably coming close to a resolution. They have got to the election issues, the data privacy issues, the highland content issues in cambridge analytica. Hopefully they can put that behind them. Mark zuckerberg has been open and saying, regulate us. Regulation is usually good for big businesses, it makes it charge of the competition to come m, charge of the competition to come in, so the regulators need to make sure they do not close the door behind them, ensuring we continue to have good competition going forward. Really interesting. One person told me they think these finds of the cost of doing business for the likes of facebook. Lets talk about orange cheese . Whole foods, the american retailer, planning a special cheese that will be very orange, to celebrate the birth of harry and meghans child. What you think . I think. Things are best what you think . I think. Things a re best left what you think . I think. Things are best left unsaid . What you think . I think. Things are best left unsaid . Whole foods are best left unsaid . Whole foods are taking advantage of the fact that the royal family is very popular in the us, what with an american member now. Perhaps americans are more willing to be turning in cheek about the royals . Surely a bright orange cheese is just a double gloucester . But will it have their picture on the package . Can it . Who knows . going back to their ginger back row. Going back to their ginger roots thats it from business live today. There will be more Business News throughout the day on the bbc live web page and on World Business report. Yesterday we had some really heavy showers, some hail, thunderstorms, impressive cloud. Today there will still be showers forecast, perhaps not as heavy as yesterday, there will also be some sunny spells. This is the satellite imagery this morning, clear spells across eastern areas, this is the cloud producing showers this morning. This is storm hanna which will move in later and overnight. For today, showery outbreaks of rain moving from west to east across wales and into england, eastern england, eastern scotla nd england, eastern england, eastern scotland staying largely try and bright for much of the day, cloud increasing, showery rain pulling through, maximum temperatures of around 13 to 16 degrees. Through tonight this area of low pressure, storm hannah, really quite close together across wales and the south west of england. The strongest winds will be overnight into saturday more, gusts of up to 6070 mph over the coast of wales and the south west of england, perhaps seven coasts and gusts of up to 50 mph. Those winds will gradually ease as the day goes on. It will be a wet start to the day, rain moving through wales will push further north and eastwards. Quite a bit of rainfall expected to saturday, still some strong winds, and while they will ease it will be a blustery day, particularly in western areas. Sunny spells towards the north and his but feeling pretty disappointing for many, maximum temperature is about nine to 12 or 13 celsius. Storm hannah will eventually move away into the north sea, going into sunday we have a ridge of High Pressure which will settle things down through sunday, lighter winds and try, good news if you are running or spectating the London Marathon on sunday morning, temperatures getting up to about 14 degrees. During sunday we are all seeing a much drier day with quite a bit of cloud, some brighter spells, some showery rain moving into Northern Ireland, west wales and the far south west of england, temperatures on sunday higher than saturday, 13 or 14 degrees. Thats all from me. Goodbye. Youre watching bbc news at nine with me Annita Mcveigh the headlines britains top Civil Servant demands co operation with his inquiry into leaked discussions from a National Security Council Meeting about the chinese telecoms giant huawei as cabinet ministers deny their involvement. Two people are injured after a huge explosion at the tata steel plant in port talbot overnight. The british and irish governments are set to hold talks in an attempt to restore power sharing in Northern Ireland more than two years after the Stormont Assembly collapsed. The duke of cambridge meets survivors of last months mosque attacks in christchurch, and speaks of his personal experience of grief. Ive had reasons