Cheers from Financial Markets after the us delays imposing some tariffs on a whole host of chinese imports, but how long will the optimism last . That is after that vital christmas and new year shop. We will talk you through that. Markets in europe have been trading for hafner and are all headed lower. We will explain why. Also come. Trading for half an hour. And standing out from the crowd with no shortage of tech firms promising to change our lives, we meet the woman charged with promoting the uks tech sector to the world. And what does your voice say about you . With more and more banks, doctors and call centres using Voice Recognition to determine if you really are who you say you are, we want to know are you happy for your voice to be used as your digital fingerprint . Let us know just use the hashtag bbcbizlive. Good to have you with us. We are looking at the German Economy. It shrank in the Second Quarter, dragged down by a slump in exports, preliminary data shows. Manufacturers in europes largest economy are hit by weaker foreign demand and trade disputes. Gross domestic product fell 0. 1 quarter on quarter after a confirmed growth rate of 0. 4 in the first three months of the year. The reading for the april june period was in line with expectations. The annual growth rate slowed to 0. 4 in the Second Quarter, from 0. 7 in the previous quarter. This beat an analysts poll of 0. 1 . Industrial production fell 5. 2 this year the worst drop in a decade. And the German Economy is heavily reliant on its manufacturing sector. How worrying is this latest data . Good question, sally, thank you. With us now is florian hense, european economist, berenberg bank. Nice to see you, florian the numbers they are paint a picture of a slowing economy. I wonder where that is coming from and what is driving that slow down, given we do place a lot of store in it being the powerhouse economy . Exactly. Weighing hard on germany, the slowdown on global trade, in global production, and obviously germany is very exposed, as we just heard, to manufacturing. What we are seeing now is sort of that the weakness in the industrial sector is starting to spread into sort of the more domestic parts of the economy and obviously that is worrying. When there is that exposure we clearly know around the world, clearly, countries like china and the us, the big slowdown there. With that exposure to exports, germany really feels that . It does, and we can see it, partly with these 02 numbers, you know, boosted a bit by 01 and then sort of dragged down by 02, but we see this in the trade dispute with the us and china, it is weighing heavily, and also the heartbreak that risk which is clearly clouding the outlook for german experts hard brexit risk which is clearly clouding. German experts hard brexit risk which is clearly cloudinglj german experts hard brexit risk which is clearly clouding. I want to come onto that but lets talk domestically in germany. The worry that this tips over into the domestic economy with things like unemployment and inflation. Where are we on that and has it tipped over yet . It is starting to spread. What we can see, at least from the press release we got today, domestic demand, especially private consumption, is still boosting the economy, but it is kind of struggling to, as we can see with the negative growth or the contraction today, it is struggling to keep basically the economy afloat, above water. So we are starting to see some weaknesses in terms of employment growth slowing it is not dropping but slowing, and unemployment numbers are unemployment rising. So we are starting to see some weakness in the domestic market. I am sort of nervous about asking what happens next and where that growth may come back in, because you touched on the brexit issue, which germany may be sensitive to, and so many ifs and buts about brexit, but what is the impact on germany. So many. If you speak to daimler and so on they will tell you how brexit is a serious risk for their business, and for the economy at large. This just comes at a very bad time because obviously we have this global slowdown, and then you add another risk, a hard brexit risk, and it just you add another risk, a hard brexit risk, and itjust comes at a very bad time. One we will talk about again, im sure, florian. Good to see you and thank you for flying in. Lets take a look at some of the other stories making the news. Us entertainment giants cbs and viacom have announced that they have finalised their merger plans. The new company will have more than 28 billion in revenue and comprise brands including mtv, Paramount Pictures and publisher simon schuster. They will be latest in a wave of media mega mergers as traditional media giants take on new streaming rivals. Indias Smartphone Market saw record sales in the Second Quarter. Almost 37 million handsets were sold between april and june, up around 10 on the same time last year. The us Airline Safety regulator has banned certain models of apples macbook pro laptops on flights, after the tech firm recalled select units with batteries that pose a fire risk. The 15 inch models were sold between september 2015 and february 2017. The federal Aviation Administration says it has alerted Major Airlines about the recall. So lets check in on the numbers. Shares on wall street and in asia rallied pretty sharply after the United States announced its delaying imposing new tariffs on some chinese imports until the middle of december. Lets go to our Asia Business hub where Sharanjit Leyl has the latest. Sharanjit, real change in the mood on markets . A change in the mood on markets, as you say, sally, and it has been called an early Christmas Present of sorts and is just the sort of thing people would be given for christmas, all included in that, toys, computer monitors, clothing, laptops. Retailers will get a chance to stock up retailers will get a chance to stock up before the higher tariffs kick in mid december. Us President Donald Trump himself acknowledged while speaking to reporters that the delay in these tariffs was in part to avoid hitting us shoppers this christmas is. The surprise news from the us trade representative sparked a huge rally on wall street and here in asia today where most markets are closing higher, but other items facing a 10 tariff will go ahead as planned on the 1st of september, making good on a promise from President Trump at the start of the month that he would impose a 10 tariff on 300 billion of chinese goods. He is of course blaming china for not following through on promises to buy more american agricultural products. We shall watch this space. Thank you very much, Sharanjit Leyl, based in singapore, part of the team there. Lets look at the numbers. Sharanjit was explaining why they have been going in the direction they have. Hong kong is down a touch. It has been up for much of the trading day but as you can see it has just edged lower. Lets look at europe. They we re lower. Lets look at europe. They were all in the red earlier. Lets look at what they have been doing. Really flat, to be honest. Germany down by a quarter of a percent and i would imagine investors are digesting the growth figures we had out of germany that florian has just been discussing. What is ahead on wall street . Here is michelle fleury. This is a big week for retail news, kicking off with macys. Now, the Department Store is likely to show a drop in profit when it reports its Second Quarter results, as it spent heavily to build up its Online Business and grow its off price business, its discount business. All eyes will be on the companys comments of course on the latest round of tariffs. So far the strength of the American Consumer has been one of the bright spots in the us economy. Chinas Luckin Coffee is expected to post a loss when it reports its first results as a public company. Remember it is the starbucks challenger and it is Opening New Stores and are trying to expand aggressively. The us listed company, well, its shares have gained about 60 since its debut in may. Also canadas largest cannabis company, canopy growth, is expected to post a bigger First Quarter loss as it spends more to expand and establish a larger presence in both domestic and overseas markets. That was michelle, part of our team in new york with the latest from wall street. Paola binns is seniorfund manager at Royal London Asset management. Nice to see you, paola. Welcome to the programme. Lets pick up with your thoughts on germany i was discussing at the start of the programme, that growth picture painting the picture of a slowing economy in germany. What will markets make of that . What will investors be looking for . It wont bea investors be looking for . It wont be a surprise because the Industrial Production numbers last week were dire and we had a business conference dire and we had a business co nfe re nce surveys dire and we had a business conference surveys yesterday which indicated the business part of the economy is definitely very pessimistic about growth, so it will not come as a surprise but it will be disappointing and it is just this trend of slowing Global Growth we are seeing everywhere at the moment. Today in the uk we will have the Inflation Numbers out. We had wages yesterday, and job figures. Today in the us there will be a lot of news figures, jobless figures, inflation, and so on. We will get a real sense by the end of this week how the Global Economy is faring. By the end of this week how the Global Economy is faringlj by the end of this week how the Global Economy is faring. I dont think we will expect too much surprise out of the uk Inflation Numbers. We are expecting that to come down slightly. Around 1. 9 on cpi. Well then i dont think there will be any surprises for the market ora will be any surprises for the market or a big reaction. Will be any surprises for the market ora big reaction. People will be any surprises for the market or a big reaction. People looking at co re or a big reaction. People looking at core inflation or any trends, we have seen Wage Inflation around about 3. 6 or3. 7, have seen Wage Inflation around about 3. 6 or 3. 7, quite strong in the uk, but at the moment we wouldnt expect any impact from the wea ker wouldnt expect any impact from the weaker sterling to come through at the moment on the cpi numbers. Clearly Central Banks are looking at all of these numbers coming in right now and trying like all first like to get a sense of what the heck is going on and that plays out in longer term Interest Rates because we start getting a sense of what Central Banks are thinking about what might happen next . |j Central Banks are thinking about what might happen next . I think what we have seen and it is very difficult to decipher what has actually happened because the markets are so thin because it is august, the summer holidays, a lot of dealers away from their desks, but we have seen relentless buying of long term data bonds, long term Interest Rates, and that could be just a move to safe havens from the investors point of view, but also could be interpreted as expectations that inflation over the longer term will be very subdued, and that means growth will also be very subdued over the longer term. So it is all looking a bit sombre in the markets at the moment, but as i said they are very at the moment, but as i said they are very thin, and, you know, little bit of buying or selling could dramatically move prices at this time of year. An important caveat, that is. Nice to see you, paola, thanks for now. We will talk about the business pages a little later. Still to come. Standing out from the crowd well meet the woman whos helping to sell the uks tech success to the world. Stay with us for that. Youre with business live from bbc news. Now, nearly 80,000 students will get their btec qualifications today they recognise vocational studies in everything from car maintenance, health care, computing and engineering. Steph mcgovern is at one college in lincolnshire. Where they have been getting their results. Good morning, steph to stop it is important we recognise these alongside more traditional qualifications, isnt it . Alongside more traditional qualifications, isnt it . It certainly is. Yeah, good morning. You can see a demonstration of some of the types of things these guys have been learning about. Joinery, bricklaying, sports science, computing. You mentioned car maintenance there. Health and social care. These are vocational qualifications well they might involve a lot of practical assessment. Throughout the year they will be doing weekly assessments, working with local employers as well doing work placements. The reason why this is important, there are a lot of people who do these and if you look at 16 18 year olds there are around 325,000 of them studying vocational qualifications last year. If you compare that to a levels, it is actually more than a levels. Just under 300,000 people of the same age in england doing a levels. Such a wide range of things and i have some people with their results as well. Lauren, what did you get . people with their results as well. Lauren, what did you get . I did health and social care and got distinction, distinction, merit. I am going to Sheffield Hallam to do nursing in september. Fabulous placements in various organisations around here. Lydia, how did you do . Triple distinction in engineering. What is next to you . Herriot Watt University in edinburgh studying architectural engineering. Are also engineering. Hopefully going to Nottingham Trent next. You are all heading off to uni to study. Joseph, computing . Yes, and i am doing an apprenticeship. Working with a local company . The sports bike shop. Why did you do that . I wanted to get out of education into the business but i still wanted to learn so i decided to go with apprenticeship. Yellow i earn and learn, always the phrase you hear. You always wanted to be a nurse . Yes, i knewl you hear. You always wanted to be a nurse . Yes, i knew i wanted to work within social care, just didnt know which area of social care. Yes, and we need you such an anxious time for people getting their results at the moment. Chatting to them all at the moment. Chatting to them all at the moment. Chatting to them all at the moment it is clear they have been working really hard. Lots of expensive kit here this morning they have been working with with local employers. That is it from me here at boston college. Youre watching business live our top story germanys growth contracted by 0. 1 in the three months tojune as weak demand and trade tensions weigh on europes biggest economy. In reverse, and fears about whether the europes biggest economy could be headed into recession. We will keep you right up to date with the reaction on that. Much more on the bbc business live page. Now fintech has been a buzzword on most peoples lips and with good reason. Financial Technology Start ups are booming there are nearly 1600 firms in the uk. In total they contribute almost 8 billion to the uk economy and have disrupted traditional sectors like banking, transport, and retail through the use of smartphones. But fintech includes different sectors and industries you might not expect, like education and the Nonprofit Sector to name but a few. Well, with us now is Charlotte Crosswell chief executive of innovate finance that represents the uk fintech industry. They want to help create a Global Fintech sector thats more sustainable, inclusive and better for everyone. Welcome to the programme. A pretty huge mandate i havejust read out your organisation has been around for five years and in this time the sector has boomed in the uk . For five years and in this time the sector has boomed in the uk7m for five years and in this time the sector has boomed in the uk . It has. We were set up to try to collate across the whole sector. So many different silos, whether cyber tech, payments, challenger banks, but a lot of them please come issues companies are facing at the same whether my a lot are competing with banks, some collaborating with banks, some collaborating with banks, and what we have seen over the last five years is how the banks themselves are working with the fintech companies, to partner with them, learn with them, learn from them, learn with them, learn from them, collaborate, and potentially to invest as well and so the sector continues to grow at a huge pace. You cant move now for firms advertising about having revolutionised banking, saving, having an app to do this make it easier to transfer money. How do you stand out in that sort of crowd with so many people vying to do the same thing . We saw this back in the 90s with the tech sector, an explosion of innovation, and a period of consolidation afterwards. We are not quite seeing that yet. We are still in explosion and innovation but in terms of investment numbers, we are seeing the number of deals coming down but the size of investments are going up. That means these companies are maturing in th