this is business live from bbc news with jamie robertson and ben bland. full speed ahead for shinzo abe and abenomics. his election win means the japanese prime minister can continue his economic reform programme. live from london, that's our top story on monday the 23rd of october. another $18 billion worth of stimulus has been promised to help boost japan's flagging inflation and lift productivity. also in the programme — tesla could be the first foreign car company to have a manufacturing operation wholly "made in china". we'll find out more about the obstacles faced on both sides. not a huge amount of movement in the markets at the moment. we were following them throughout the day. sending a message

from the past to the future — the postcard is getting a digital revamp from tech company touchnote. we'll find out why it's growing in popularity. today we want to know — do you still send postcards? wish you were here, that sort of thing. who was the last person you sent one to and why? let us knowjust use the hashtag #bbcbizlive. hello and welcome to business live. the outlook for the world's third biggest economy will be shaped by shinzo abe until 2021. he's won another term in sunday's elections. his second stint as prime minister began in 2012. and if the main stock index the nikkei is anything to go by he's had a good influence for the economy. much has been made of his abenomics platform for reform. but one of the big problems is that whilst inflation has been going up, and he wants

it to, it's only 0.7%. that's well below the target of 2%. to try and boost that flagging number, mr abe has overseen a huge stimulus programme. the latest bundle is worth almost $18bn and will be spent on childcare and increasing productivity. it's being paid for by a 2% increase in sales tax. a kind of vat. the plan to make it 10% from october 2019 was a big election issue. for more we'rejoined by karishma vaswani, our asia business correspondent. shinzo abe has been trying to boost the economy, to kick—start it for some time. how much more patience to think the bubble have and how much stronger position do you think he is 110w stronger position do you think he is now in after this election? let me a nswer now in after this election? let me answer the second part of that question first. as a result of the

figures that we are seeing out of japan with regard to the election, he certainly seems to be winning a decisive victory. he will be in a much stronger position than he was perhaps right before he called the election with regards to the economy. this election was never about the japanese economy but about north korea, about constitutional reform and certainly abenomics, his self named pillars of economic policy, the three pillars that he tried to jump—start policy, the three pillars that he tried to jump—sta rt the policy, the three pillars that he tried to jump—start the japanese economy with, it has been a sort of unfinished business aspect to those policies. to some extent, the japanese economy has done relatively well. it would be fair to say, over the past few years that he has been in office. but the structural reforms side of that abenomics policy has yet to fully come through and have the impact that i think he wa nted and have the impact that i think he wanted it to have. in that first press co nfe re nce wanted it to have. in that first press conference he gave a couple of

hours ago, he was specific about certain measures, things like about streamlining the workforce, the ageing population and falling birth rate and those are problems that are easy to identify but hard to solve. this is the kind of stuff we have consistently heard from shinzo abe. it is nothing new. japan has had an ageing problem for the last nite in 15 years, a shrinking workforce were about just as long. 15 years, a shrinking workforce were aboutjust as long. there are easy, simple solutions to this, bringing more foreign talent into the country, that was part of the structural reform, adding no women into the workforce, again, another thing that shinzo abe has consistently talked about whilst in office, but as i was saying earlier, he has been able to push ahead with monetary policy, fiscal stimulus, he's not been able to address the key structural reforms in the japanese economy and there are so many estimate is coming out about

the japanese economic gdp in the future that if the structural reforms are not get fixed we are likely to see growth rates dipping again to around 0% in the next couple of years. why has he been unable to reform the economy in that way? to reform the way that people work in japan. there are a lot of reasons for that. to put it simply, there are items of cultural baggage injapan there are items of cultural baggage in japan that make there are items of cultural baggage injapan that make this difficult to achieve. i do not want to take away from some of the successes that shinzo abe has had. but looking at the examples we have been seen from corporate japan in recent weeks, that we have been talking about on this channel for the last couple of days, issues with accounting problems, fabrication of data, looking at companies like kobe steel, the top—down hierarchy in companies in japan needs steel, the top—down hierarchy in companies injapan needs to be addressed and this is a long—term problem and it will not be solved overnight. the fact that shinzo abe

has made structural reform such a primary part of abenomics is a credit in itself but he has got a lot of work left to do now that he has got such a strong mandate. thank you very much indeed. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. two of italy's richest northern regions have voted for more autonomy. the regional leaders claim more than 90% of voters supported the idea. in lombardy, home to italy's financial capital milan, and the veneto region around venice. the referendum is non—binding. the regions together account for about 30% of italy's national wealth. britain's five biggest business lobby groups issued a joint letter to brexit secretary david davis calling for an urgent brexit transition deal to prevent job losses and a decline in uk investment. the uk government maintains the talks are "making real, tangible progress". china lifts a ban on imports of mould—ripened cheeses — including camembert, brie and roquefort —

following a meeting between european commission and chinese food safety officials. an eu—china delegation said over the weekend that trade would be allowed to resume immediately. let's have a look at the markets. the australian market, the hang seng and the dow are up, the other ones are down. the japanese market up 1% but we are seeing the yen falling, which helps lots of the japanese companies. generally a feeling of excitement and enthusiasm behind the fa ct excitement and enthusiasm behind the fact that shinzo abe has returned as prime minister of japan. looking fact that shinzo abe has returned as prime minister ofjapan. looking at the european markets, this is how they started. not much movement. michelle fleury has the details about what's ahead on wall street today. the recent hurricanes have had an

impact on earnings for the third quarter. as the american stock market rally has its good legs? there are profit outlooks todayjust over the next few days. so far with the exception of the disappointing results from general electric, the news from corporate america has been good. looking ahead to this monday, halliburton is expected to report an increase in third—quarter profits. the oilfield sector has benefited from increased drilling activity in north america. but wall street beware. the company is likely to warn that the good times in the region are not sustainable. hasbro has turned in third—quarter results. the toy maker said the belkov ‘s profits are likely to come later in the year to coincide with the release of the latest film from the star wars franchise. lawrence gosling, editor in chief of investment weekjoins me now. let's kick off with events in tokyo.

asjamie let's kick off with events in tokyo. as jamie mentioned, that has been a lu kewa rm as jamie mentioned, that has been a lukewarm response to this election result from the nikkei. it is stability, and everyone knows what they're going to get from shinzo abe, and he has been re—elected and with a good majority so that is the sort of news people want. it allows them to build... you could say a third bite at the cherry, to get reforms and the stimulus going and inflation up. he's had two goes at it. now it is his third. will he make it? will he be able to sort of breakthrough? robert lui not universally, because we are talking about decades of kind of japanese —— probably not universally. the session, in a sense. he's going in the right way, very steadily. japan has an ageing population and they do not raise enough tax, hence the increase in vat to help pay for the

ageing population. what about in europe, is spain having an affect on the ecb? a couple of weeks ago it looked like spain has settled down. now it seems to be flaring up. one of the issues, talking about that whether we are in a bubble or not, professional investors are looking at the big risk that will crack the good general economic news that seems to be going on in the world. it isa seems to be going on in the world. it is a very gloomy sort of boom, isn't it? we are thinking that it is all going to go horribly wrong at some point. butjust had the anniversary of the 1987 crash in the uk. younger investors, the lever brothers moment are still in the back of their minds. it is nine yea rs back of their minds. it is nine years ago. people remember how bad that was —— lehman brothers. years ago. people remember how bad that was -- lehman brothers. it is one of the things that people point

out, that a lot of of movement, the push upwards is coming from technology stocks. the nasdaq is doing incredibly well. people are drawing parallels with the dotcom boom, with overvalued stocks. microsoft is a ao—year—old company. it is almost like a utility company now. it was different this time. it isa now. it was different this time. it is a dangerous expression to use, but i don't think we are moving into a bubble area around technology stocks. state gloomy, stay gloomy. is that your phrase for life, jamie?! underthe is that your phrase for life, jamie?! under the mattress! still to come... giving a technological twist to an old favourite — sending postcards in the digital age. we'll find out more about an app that let's you do just that. you're with business live from bbc news. consumer confidence has rallied

in the third quarter of 2017 according to the latest data from professional services firm deloitte. it's the first quarterly rise in consumer confidence since this time last year. so what's behind it? ben perkins is head of consumer research at deloitte. in some ways it is slightly surprising given that we are seeing prices increasing faster than wages within some cases people having to borrow to pay for the basics and yet consumer confidence reportedly doing better. yes, it is. in terms of the drivers behind that it is confidence around two things. one is the security of employment. we know that we have record low unemployment at the moment so consumers are not feeling much concern around that

and, as you mentioned, consumers continue to have access to plentiful and relatively cheap credit. continue to have access to plentiful and relatively cheap creditm continue to have access to plentiful and relatively cheap credit. it is a year now and which consumer confidence in this survey has been suppressed. why is it unable to get going because, for instance, we have got full employment. you highlighted some of the major points at the start. 0ne, some of the major points at the start. one, the squeeze on disposable income so in the short—term, consumer confidence is quarter on quarter, but we look at disposable income and, year—on—year, disposable income and, year—on—year, disposable income and, year—on—year, disposable income is down nine points. so there is a considerable squeeze on consumers' points. so there is a considerable squeeze on consumers' incomes and we expect that to continue. consumer spending has not been terribly strong but it hasn't collapsed. given the lack of confidence, it suggests it might do. it feels like

we're waiting for the trigger point. if you look at the graph of unsecured borrowing, it has risen dramatically over the past two yea rs. dramatically over the past two years. consumers have been dipping into their savings as we can see from the decline in the savings ratio. we're waiting for that trigger point which sort of force this gradual slowdown in demand, into something a bit sharper. ben perkins from deloitte, thank you very much. more throughout the day on the website, the bbc business live page. you're watching business live. our top story. japan's prime minister shinzo abe wins another term in office — which is being seen as a vote of confidence for his economic policies. a quick look at how markets are faring. pathy and getting everybody behind

your course of action is very important, if you get the support, you will have a group of very motivated people, who will always make much better decisions than ever you can. the european markets havejust opened. they have decided to head down now. not a huge amount. nothing to panic about. i am sure we have time do that later. that is the latest doom and gloom update from jamie. now, let's get a new twist on an old — but increasingly unfashionable — keepsake. postcards. in the last 20 years, the number of people sending postcards has halved. the postcard boom began around 1900 after printing methods improved and postal charges became more affordable. and the rise of technology has meant sending photos quickly and easily to friends and family from nearly everywhere around the world. but an app that is bridging the gap is touchnote — which sends digital postcards using the sender's own photos. so far, ten million have been sent since the app went live in 2008. 0ded ran is the chief executive of touchnote. how much does it cost? i can get a

postcard in a shop for 50 experience send it for another pound, so that is about $50 experience send it for another pound, so that is about a dollar, is.30. if you send a single ka rkt dollar, is.30. if you send a single karkt it will cost you 2.99. if you send lots it will go down to 1.50, the nice thing about it is you don't need to go and select a card, buy stamp, wait in the post office, you can do it all from the comfort of your home. you take your own picture, right? correct. put it in the app and what? this is a card someone the app and what? this is a card someone sends the app and what? this is a card someone sends on the app and what? this is a card someone sends on holiday, and you literally, you upload a photo. we do the rest. part of the reason people haven't been sending cards for the last few year, is really because it has been much more complicated than to do it on line. we make it easy to send something meaningful, tangible as it is to send it digitally. it is all typewritten. i don't think i wa nt to all typewritten. i don't think i

want to send one. you can send hand writing. my own? you can. no-one could read it then, jamie. you are right there. one of the things people love to customise if you see here, we put a stamp with our logo on it. people can customise the stamp itself, so if you dreamed about having your face replaced, the face of the queen in the stamp you can send a postcard with touchnote and it will be sent with your face or the face of your child on the postcard when it is sent in the post. other companies do this as well, what is it that yours does, that makes you stand out from what isa that makes you stand out from what is a very competitive market? the market is very large, we are talking about 20 billion dollar market or £15 billion, the vast majority are generated in the high street, in retail shops. 0nly generated in the high street, in retail shops. only a small proportion 10% is online. 0ut retail shops. only a small proportion 10% is online. out of which mobile is very small. so this isa which mobile is very small. so this is a very large market. to give you a history, touchnote was the first app of its kind, in 2008, to do what we do. we have grown substantially.

last year our revenued grossed 57 million. we sent our 10 millionth ca rd last million. we sent our 10 millionth card last wreak. what people love about it is how easy it is do and you don't need to even on the computer spend hours creating the ca rd computer spend hours creating the card or another product to send. are you making a profit yet? we have been profitable last year. when did you start? we started in 2008. 2016 was a year where we were profitable, which is hard for any tech company, we are happy to be in, this year we are doubling down on our expansion. how do you expand, now you are making money, what you going to do, have long holidays and send post cards? good one. there are two billion people in the world right now, with smartphones and we all carry these amazing phone, they have cameras and we take thousands of photos every month. these photos, we help people turn them into the best

products out there. we are the beginning of the journey. behind my comment, how are you going to expand, what are you spending your monday on to expand? you have done the hard work of designing the app, what do you do now? it is never ending so we have increasing the tea m ending so we have increasing the team in the uk, we doubled the size of the team last year, in the uk, and we spent a lot of time recruiting the best people. we are doubling the marketing, this year we launched a successful marketing campaign in thejust as we launched a successful marketing campaign in the just as we enter the us market. i am interested, what are your margins? we have been profitable a year, a, we launch additional products. your margin, what kind of margins do you have? the profit margin last year we broke profit, just above the operating cost, we a re profit, just above the operating cost, we are focussing this year on doing whatever it takes to grow the market, to be more relevant. doing whatever it takes to grow the market, to be more relevantlj doing whatever it takes to grow the market, to be more relevant. i mean, just further for the benefit of the

viewers beaming up at us from the table, an example of some of the other stuff they do. it is canvas, they have very kindly printed off they have very kindly printed off the presenter, unfortunately sally and ben aren't here. if we pop that there, you know, it is like they are with us, almost. they are on holiday. i here that ben is in dubai, iam holiday. i here that ben is in dubai, i am sure he is watching us, iam sure dubai, i am sure he is watching us, i am sure he is sending a holiday postcard. we are asking today, whether you still send post cards, we had lots of tweets. ian says no, i put photos on facebook, ryan says i haven't gone anywhere worthy to send one but sure i would. david said the last one i sent were in tokyo said the last one i sent were in to kyo te n said the last one i sent were in tokyo ten yea rs said the last one i sent were in tokyo ten years ago. another one says i use the postal service, i sent the last one to my mother. and another says i send post cards, i don't need a phone to do it for me. they are still round. you still see

them sold everywhere. indeed. we will make sure this gets to ben and sally and thank you for talking to us. see you soon. thank you. he found there was one big difference between the running a business in theory in running one in practice. people matter more than he'd ever thought. it's all in the people management. it's all about trusting and delegating the team underneath you. the big difference between advising and doing is that you are crucially reliant on the team of people around you, understanding people's feelings, having basic human empathy and getting everybody

behind your course of action is very important. if you get the support, you will have a group of very motivated people, who will always make much better decisions than ever you can. lawrence is back to look through the papers. big question but this question about whether capitalism has had its day. significant because it is coming from some of the uk's top business leaders. i think people will remember the prime minister stood up at the tory party conference and defended free market capitalism. we have people like caroline fair burn who runs the cbi, and a former business minister who chairs santander, saying, capitalism has been going one way for too long, and

perhaps, you know, employees, everybody else has been missed out the equation over the drive to increase profits and look after shareholders. one of the things about capitalism and free markets is if you take it to extreme or let it go unbridled the obvious thing do is you end up cheating, don't you, because, if the ultimate competitive market is when you do everything you can to get ahead and so you have to cheat. isn't that what happens? for some, i would argue it is like the party where there be somebody who drinksa party where there be somebody who drinks a bit too much if the alcohol is free. not even does that and it is free. not even does that and it is significant some of the big businesses and some are representative of the high street banks who have not covered themselves in gloucestershire ray in themselves in gloucestershire ray in the last decade, not necessarily the case with sa ntander, the last decade, not necessarily the case with santander, i might add. it's a question of where is the balance, capitalism can be good if everybody is included in the equation. these people are all saying actually there is big parts of society who have been missed out.

there is a need for a sort of, they call it a reboot, so look at what... regulation. it is partly regulation it is about ethics, people running companies, what are they trying to do? are they trying to get themselves rich or are they trying to make a reasonable amount of money and look after their colleague, the shareholders, and the wired society. i think that is what the debate is about. move on to the this story in which paper? the new york times. tesla potentially becoming the first foreign car company to have a wholly owned manufacturing operation in china. it will test that relationship between foreign companies and chinese companies. there trump goes to china next month so there trump goes to china next month so this is a test. china is the largest conup soar and producers of electric cars, so you can see who why tesla wants to get in there. there is a massive tariff of 25% to export cars into china. china. new york times says it is close to

setting up a base in shack hire, and becoming the sort of —— shanghai and becoming the sort of —— shanghai and becoming the sort of —— shanghai and becoming the first foreign car company to have its own subsidiary. that would be hugely important to tesla and the broader growth of the chinese market. quickly on craft beer, boom pushes a number of brewer over 2,000, what is interesting is that 27 pubs close every week. yes. interesting contradiction. those who have complained gordon brown did nothing when he was chancellor can thank him for this. beer is good but they are not drinking it in pubs any more. we are hearing the music which is the bell for last orders or the equivalent. good to see you, good to see you too, we will be back soon. have a good day. bye. good morning. it is a cloudy and

damp start to the day for many of us, outbreaks of rain but the good news is that rain will clear away to the east, so there will be drier and brighter weather coming through later on, even some sunshine across northern and western area, the cloud and rain, is this weather system, it is moving eastwards, so this afternoon it might stay cloudy and damp in the far east of england things are improving for many of us except cornwall and west devon where murky conditions for the middle part of the afternooven. staying cloudy in kent, essex, up to lincolnshire, further north and west looking dry and bright with that sunshine coming through. a few showers in northern ireland and the west of scotland and some of those showers actually in western scotland could be heavy perhaps even thundery, but there will be sunshine elsewhere. tonight that rain across the east finally clears away, and then, we turn to the south—west where we will see

heavenestier rain. from the south—west misty and murky conditions in the southern areas into the early hours of tuesday morning. clearer spells the further north you go. temperatures should stay up in double figure, during ties tuesday it will be a wet day. some heavier rain throughout the day. some brighter skies in scotland and northern ireland, and across the south, there may be glimmers of sunshine coming through. mostly cloudy i think on tuesday, and maximum temperatures up to 16—18. as for wednesday, probably the driest and the brightest day for many. there will be some cloud in the south, a bit of patchy rain here but for most, a dry day with some sunshine. then as we go into thursday, we can see the weather front which is moving northward, a warm front, look at the red semi circles there. that is bringing in warmer air, behind it, circles there. that is bringing in warmerair, behind it, so we circles there. that is bringing in warmer air, behind it, so we get this waft of waehler air as we go into thursday, feeling a bit warmer

by the end of the week, still some rain round, i think on thursday, particularly towards northern england and wales, lots of dry weather i think on thursday, and temperatures up into the high teens so temperatures up into the high teens so this week it is changeable. lighter winds compared to the last week or so and it will feel warmer as well, especially by the end of week. more details on the website but that is it from me. bye. hello, it's monday, it's nine o'clock, i'm chloe tilley in for victoria derbyshire, welcome to the programme. our top story today — from today drivers of older, more polluting vehicles will have to pay almost twice as much to drive in central london. we can either take action to clean up we can either take action to clean up fears that your children have underdeveloped and your adults suffer strokes and asthma, we do nothing which will make things worse. critics say it will "disproportionately penalise london's poorest drivers" but those in favour say it's the only way to

improve air quality in the capital. your thoughts very welcome as always. also on the programme, we've discovered that 95% of tv ads during live uk football matches feature at least one gambling advert, with some games being dominated by betting ads.