northern areas, as the front across northern areas, as the front sweeps of the atlantic. this is business live from bbc news with sally bundock and rachel horne. are we seeing the calm before the storm? today, markets in the uk and us open for the first time this year. some experts say business confidence is at an all—time high. live from london, that's our top story on tuesday 3rd january. it's set to be a defining 12 months for global businesses. we'll ask why some companies are still feeling positive despite the uncertainty of brexit and a trump presidency. also in the programme, start as you mean to go on. as we enter 2017, the australian bank anz continues to sell of parts of its operation in asia. we'll cross live to singapore for the latest. and, after the long holiday break, it's business as usual

for european markets. they are all headed in one direction at the moment. we'll be getting an expert view on how long it will last. a vision for the future. we'll be talking interactive billboards and digital advertising with one of the industry's leading companies. dentists are calling for an end to the workplace cake culture. is there too much junk food at your work, or does it make a happier office? let us know, just use the hashtag #bbcbizlive. welcome to the programme. it is never too early for cake and chocolate, just get some false teeth! today, markets in the us, the uk and most of asia have been open for the first trading session of the year. in 2016, surprise political results

caused tremors on both sides of the atlantic, but a new report suggests there's been a sharp increase in business confidence for the year ahead. the professional services firm grant thornton says the number of companies expecting to grow their annual profits is at a two—year high. indeed, here in the uk, the ftse recently hit an all—time record, despite ongoing uncertainty over britain's relationship with the european union. in fact, europe's stoxx 600 has entered a bull market just this week, so it is 20% up from its low last february. and it's a similar story in the united states. the dowjones rose 13% last year, most of the increase taking place after donald trump was elected as us president. the billionaire businessman has outlined an infrastructure plan worth $1 trillion. that could give a boost to companies in the us and across the world. with me is francesca lagerberg,

global leader for tax services at grant thornton. looking ahead to 2017, the start of a new year is often a time for optimism, but looking to this year, it is uncertain when the future is going, we have a new president in the white house, not a lot of visibility of what he is going to do, brexit, european elections. what is putting up the confidence? it is fascinating seeing businesses being optimistic, 38% positivity in the businesses that we surveyed. there is something around knowing the big—ticket issues of the year last year gave some uncertainty that donald trump will be president, there will be brexit, and even though we don't know that massa nations, there is some certainty,

and businesses love certainty. 3896 more confident about the future, so that still leaves over 60% who are not, what are their concerns? some of the things coming through our around currency changes, around how other things may pan out, in the eurozone we have big elections in france and germany, different transatlantic agreement in asia, had overall was a divinity at 38% is very high. over the last 20 years, thatis very high. over the last 20 years, that is a very positive outlook. what businesses did you survey? and how many of them? we looked at nearly 3000 businesses, over 37 economies, and they are mid—sized, the powerhouses of these economies, so the powerhouses of these economies, so they are a good gauge of where business is looking. with the businesses you survey it, but some a challenge for one is an up agility for another, so they are coming at

it from different angles. the big economies, a huge rise in positivity, 5a%, a massive increase, over 11% increase, compare and contrast with mexico, which is looking north of the border at where change may be happening, and they have gone down to 8%, so there are great cultural variances. but if you are the big economies like the eurozone, very positive in the big countries there, they see the year as having more opportunities than challenges. it is one thing for businesses to say they are confident, but to do something about it, to invest for the future, how many of them said they were going to? this is about perception and optimism, but a lot say they will invest u p optimism, but a lot say they will invest up our andy will go up, —— research and of element will go up, and also investment in machinery. people are saying they think that

you will begin at, they think next year and 2019 times when they need to invest today to make those years a success. in other news. for the first time in more than 50 years, sweden's bestselling car in 2016 was not a volvo. instead, it was a volkswagen which topped the sales charts. the vw golf made up 5.9% of new cars bought in the country, while volvo only had a 5.7% slice of sales, spread across three models. the last time volvo was not in the top spot was 1962, when another volkswagen, the beetle, headed the list. singapore's economyjust recorded its best growth quarter in three years. according to new government data, gdp grew by 9.1% on a seasonally—adjusted annualised basis, the fastest pace seen since thejune quarter of 2013. buying a home down underjust got that much harder,

with prices seeing the biggestjump in seven years. the red—hot markets are sydney and melbourne, fuelled by record low interest rates boosting demand for mortgages. annual growth in overall home prices accelerated to 10.9%, from 9.3%. this is a concern for the australian central bank. it hoped the market would cool after regulators slapped banks with tighter lending rules. australia and new zealand banking group, more commonly known as anz, is selling off its stake in a shanghai bank. mariko 0i is in singapore. how significant is this? it is very significant. currently anz have a 20% stake in the bank, but it is selling it for $1.3 billion, and it is part of the bank's restructure, to simplify its business, because

all of australia's major banks are battling higher funding costs all of australia's major banks are battling higherfunding costs and lower interest margins. in october, anz also announced a sale of its retail arms in five countries. as for its chinese assets, it will be bought by chinese companies. through these deals, they are hoping to become better capitalised. hgppy become better capitalised. happy new year to you, have not seen you get this year. three out of four markets here have been closed since the end of last year. no action injapan today. and wall street will open later today. hong kong up by nearly not .7%. we have a weaker dollar, it has gone down slightly today against most major currencies, which was fuelling movement in asia today. all markets

in europe are open, but a few of them were opened yesterday, but marginal trading scene yesterday, but as many were still on a long bank holiday. in europe, they are all headed higher, and it is interesting, because the euro stoxx 600 hit a ball market today, 20% up on its low end of february 2000 and 16. joining us is sue noffke, she's the uk equities fund manager at schroders. let's kick off with the london stock exchange, wires have said they have agreed a sale, they have had a bit for their french clearing business, which could help their tie—up with the german stock market to go

through. lca chiswick clearing part, and the regulators have looked at the merger in the past between them, and denied them the ability to go ahead. the sale of part of the business, which removes some of the concentration risk, which regulators are concerned about pricing and the concentration of power in clearing, might make it easierfor concentration of power in clearing, might make it easier for the concentration of power in clearing, might make it easierfor the merger between them to go ahead. in the meantime, it would seem europe is going from strength to strength, we can see the numbers behind you. london is up, having closed at a record high at the end of 2016. we are seeing quite a lot of market optimism. it is around the sustainability of growth. the cycle is quite extended, but has been muted. what we have seen

turbo—charged moss around donald trump does ‘s victory and what that means for fiscal policy. that means taxation cuts, regulatory take being torn up, spending on infrastructure projects, elongating the economic cycle a nd projects, elongating the economic cycle and getting away from these all trilan interest rate. what will burst the bubble? lots of things. that is what economists and strategists are warning about. instability in geopolitics, european elections, china growth grinding to a halt, those are the types of things that in the big picture people are worried about. more work to do for you! still to come. we will talk interactive billboards

with one of the industry's leading players. you're with business live from bbc news. here in the uk, rail passengers are facing higher fares across the country, as average price increases of 2.3% have been introduced. the increase covers regulated fares, including season tickets, and unregulated, such as off—peak tickets. it's being called a "kick in the teeth" for passengers. stephen joseph is from the campaign for better transport. i issue that is your view? yes, we think these extra increases are a kick in the teeth for rail passengers, who have been facing some very poor service in some cases, especially on the southern

rail network, which has been hit by long—term industrial action, but also by generally poor service on the services into london from the south coast. we have argued that what we need is a simpler, fairer and cheaper system of railfares. what we have is a complex structure that has grown up over the years, it has been added to since the railways we re has been added to since the railways were privatised, and we need to start again and have a much more rational system. somewhat argued the reason why fares have gone up so soon reason why fares have gone up so soon can reason why fares have gone up so soon can give for passengers is that the passengers are paying a larger percentage of the bill for the railway, from 50% to 70%, and they might say it is fair enough that the people who use the railways pay for them. the point to make is that almost no other country in the world ta kes almost no other country in the world takes that view. there is new research today showing that other countries subsidise their railways and people pay significantly lower

proportions of their income on commuting, compared with people in the uk. that is because there are wider benefits from having a good and affordable rail network, including less congestion and pollution on the roads. we have some of the most congested roads in the world, as well as some of the highest railfares. world, as well as some of the highest rail fares. there world, as well as some of the highest railfares. there has to be a connection there somewhere. i would imagine many of you have a view on that subject, the price of those coming up. mine went up 20p. it is good to know! lots on our tablet, quite says that, uk housing shortage, no policy shortage. you're watching business live. our top story today, markets in the us, the uk and most of asia have been open for the first trading session of the year. many would argue that perhaps we are

a little bit too over optimistic at the moment given some of the political risk out there and geopolitical risk out there in the new year. that's how the markets in europe are trading right now. most of them are open today. and now let's get the inside track on the digital revolution that's taking place in the world of advertising. no longer is some poor soul required to scale a ladder with a brush and pot of glue to paste a large sheet of paper on a billboard. many displays are now electronic and can adapt their content to the viewer as he or she passes by. primesight is one of the largest "out of home" advertising firms in the uk and naren patel, its chief executive is with us. welcome. good morning. first of all, just explain to us this concept of out of home advertising. well, out

of home is basically every ad that you see when you're not in your house. so it is things on rail stations, buses, airports, and on the roadside, underground. we kind of, we spend three hours a day outside our home look looking at billboards and that's the time you spend looking at these ads. only 396 of your billboards are digital, but that accounts for 20% of your revenue. surely that would mean you wa nt to revenue. surely that would mean you want to increase the number of digital billboards you have to increase the revenue? yes, but the day of the man and the bucket and paste will always be there. we have 20,000 in total. so we will never digitalise them all, but we are digitalising the best sites. we are about 20% of our revenues and the industry is 35%, we think it will get to 50%, but it will stabilise because we need the old traditional paper and paste because it gives us

cover every where. the same ad goes up cover every where. the same ad goes up in slough and derby and edinburgh at the same time and advertisers like that. they like the fame of getting their ads up. you are a uk based organisation... correct. you mentioned the key cities in the uk. to what extent are we affected by billboards? what evidence is there to say that looking at a billboard will affect what i do with my money or what i do with my time? well, there is loads of evidence, but the key thing you have got to look at is our advertiser base. so we our advertisers consist of the top advertisers consist of the top advertisers in the uk. mainly media companies, all the big media companies, all the big media companies out out of home. they only use it because it works and there is a tonne of evidence. if you want to check on the ipao they provide lots of it. and the way it works is, when you're out and about, you are more active. you have an active mindset and that makes you absorb messages and that makes you absorb messages

and we did a bit of research last year really on, because the whole thing around smartphones which is really interesting and we tracked people's movements and we found that on the top 20 campaigns, their search increased by up to 60%. so if that doesn't prove that outdoor qorks, what does really? where are you in the marred accounting spend with your clients? if things get tough economically, are you lower down in the pecking order when it comes to their marketing spend? out of home this year is the second fastest growing medium. i'm talking about 2016. in terms of advertising? of course, the internet is the fastest, and we will be second and tv will be third. we are really important and digital is what is really driving this. so we have gone from a wonderful media, in a way you could get your posters, but across the country to something that gives awe lot of flexibility. so if you are, for example, a car advertiser, all the research says people think about buying cars when they are diving home. right. now you can

serve your ads on digital billboards between 4pm and 7pm. that's brilliant. it cuts down a lot of wastage, you are turbo charging it with digital. there are lots of good exa m ples of with digital. there are lots of good examples of using data to drive content on screens and that's what is getting the industry excited about at home. i want to talk about targeted advertising. you mentioned about targeting drivers orn the way home with ads for new cars because that's when we think about it. it is harder on billboards than on smart devices. how do you target it for the audience? i don't see tom cruise and minority report happening soon. we don't use personalised data. we pick up we buy a lot of data from smartphone networks, it gives us travel patterns, it gives us ideas of which audiences are going where

and we load up our content it maximise that. so it is not about, i know you, you are looking for ladders, so i am ale going to serve awe ladder ad on a billboard. thank you. fascinating. it is, it is fascinating. let's cross over to the us now because the consumer electronics show is set to get underway in las vegas later this week. many people consider it to be the biggest technology exhibition in the world and it's an annual fixture for many of the giants of silicon valley. the event is now entering its 50th yearand it's fair to say it's a very different show from when it all started back in 1967. the originalising is providing

education and entertainment at a very reasonable price. it is phenomenal. it is a huge show. it is phenomenal. it is a huge show. it was an event called the national association of music merchants and there was a portion, a tiny portion of the show that said we'll let the consumer electronics portion be over here and the guy who hired me said that's really unacceptable and he convinced the board of this nonprofit trade association that they should launch a show and they did in1967 in they should launch a show and they did in 1967 in new york called the consumer electronics show and it was successful for a launch. it had over 17,000 people. had over100,000

square feet, but it only had three products, radios, tvs and photographs. ido i do believe that the human touch, the live experience of being with a real person is something that will not be replaced in 50 years and as long as we will take honeymoons with our loved ones live, there will be opportunities for business events like ces where you are physically with other people and get to know them ona with other people and get to know them on a personal basis. sue is with us. the photograph of ces cesso sue is with us. the photograph of ces ces50 years ago, there was a beautiful woman behind a desk doing the admin and all the delicates were

men in suits. 0h the admin and all the delicates were men in suits. oh how things have changed! i wanted to make what point! sue noffke, uk equity fund manager at schroders — is joining us again to discuss. we asked you to send in your tweets about cake in the office. some dentists have been saying we shouldn't be bringing in sweet treats and we should break it now it is january. inside the studio and outside the studio there has been response. we have an office tradition, it is your birthday, you provide sweet treats. there is fruit. at your company? yes, there is fruit, but the cakes are the big hit. absolutely. who wants fruit on a birthday? sarah says, "dentists hate joy." conor says, "my lemon drizzle cake is on its way in." james says, "why

would dentists want to end this culture, it is good for their business." wendy says, "why should only sugar make people happy. cut out cake and give them a mediterranean snack. " out cake and give them a mediterranean snack." here at 3am and ham, we have lots of cake. i will bring rachel cake sometime this week. air about and about in the news, we were taug being it yesterday because of new regulations in paris, but the financial times is looking at how its income in london could be curtailed ? looking at how its income in london could be curtailed? that's right. there are new regulations and air about and b are self regulating as well. so rather than pushing all the regulations on to the hosts, they are taking responsibility for monitoring this new 90 day limit on themselves which some other bookings companies are not doing. they are leaving that responsibility with the host. now, there is... i presume that's after a lot of pressure. you

don't want to take on new responsibilities unless you have to. i think responsibilities unless you have to. ithinka responsibilities unless you have to. i think a lot of these newly listed tech companies are finding that regulatory and the tax regular lasses are going after them because they are cash rich and they are successle and they are very big and there is a consumer backlash about whether they are really paying their deuce. this is an interesting response from the company stepping up response from the company stepping up and taking the responsibilities and perhaps making sure that they are not caught by the european courts in the future. it started out just as a way to make a little bit of cash on the side, but it is being used by professional landlords? absolutely. there is issues about how much that's really impacting the economy. sue, thank you very much for your company. thank you too for your company. we will you tomorrow. join us then. bye—bye. well, quite a frost across the south

this morning. it was minus five celsius in bournemouth. glasgow, a different story, plus seven celsius. how about today? we have got sunshine on the way. there is the chilly start, but sunny start across the south. notice the winds coming off the atlantic. that means thicker cloud across the north western areas. the best of the sunshine in the north, probably to the east of the north, probably to the east of the pennines, but generally speaking afair bit the pennines, but generally speaking a fair bit of cloud across northern areas. not the south though, after that lovely frosty, crisp start, look at that. all of that sunshine there across the south, but cold in some areas. temperatures won't be any higher than four celsius. the further north you go, the cloudier it gets. the stronger the breeze off the ant la ntic. gales it gets. the stronger the breeze off the ant lantic. gales for a time across northern areas and notice some rain too. so that's this afternoon. this evening the milder

air, that's across these areas in the north, is going to be sinking southwards through the course of the night. that's going to prevent any frost from forming across southern areas. this is the milder air coming off the atlantic. theresths notice there is colder air trying to big backin there is colder air trying to big back in again. the colder air will be back, but not yet. through this evening and overnight, the north—westerly winds bring in the cloud and the milder air. a frost—free night. this coming night. across southern areas. it will be four or five celsius. maybe a touch of frost across scotland. that's pretty much it. one or two spots of rain here and there as well. sheer wednesday morning. strong winds across the north—west of the, the north—east of the uk of the lots of sunshine from scotland through to yorkshire. these south—western areas as well as maybe southern parts of wales, probably staying on the cloudy side through the course of the wednesday. top temperatures on wednesday, eight celsius in the

south and more like four celsius in the north. anotherfrosty morning on the north. anotherfrosty morning on the way on thursday. and then it warms up the way on thursday. and then it warms up again. by the time we get to friday, temperatures could be backin to friday, temperatures could be back in double figures across northern areas back in double figures across northern areas as back in double figures across northern areas as the weather fronts sweep in off the at clantic and bring rain towards the end of the week. initially to northern and western areas week. initially to northern and western areas and week. initially to northern and western areas and maybe further south too. hello. it's tuesday, it's 9am, i'm joanna gosling, in for victoria. our top story. a man is shot dead in a police operation near the m62 motorway in huddersfield. we'll be live at the scene with the latest details. also today, we return to great yarmouth, one of the towns most in favour of brexit, to find out how people living there feel about the eu, six months after they voted to leave. i haven't got as much faith in it as i did previously, as obviously i voted out. and i just think things are slipping a little bit.

and, after 10:30am today. some of the most hotly—tipped films of 2017 are being released over the next few weeks, ahead of the oscar nominations. we'll look at some of the best and ask if the row over racism in hollywood is driving change.