my my name is sally bundock. here are the headlines: president trump leaves markets on tenterhooks, pledging to appoint the next federal reserve chair this week. we run you through the main contenders. and troubled japanese steelmaker kobe withdraws its earnings forecast, as the scandal over its falsified data casts uncertainty over the compa ny‘s results. and on the markets stocks in asia are mixed amid a slew of big corporate earnings and losses on markets in china. plus political turmoil in spain weighs on the euro. good to have you with us. we start with a woman i would like to

interview. it is janet yellen. janet yellen‘s days as chair of the federal reserve could be numbered. the chance that president donald trump will reappoint her are looking slim, and as yellen‘s term ends in february that means the commander—in—chief is actively looking for a replacement. this is an important position and a powerful economic appointee. and it will also influence mr trump's success at making his super—charged economic growth, a reality. so who are the front runners? samira hussain reports. don't expect presidential level political campaigning. the decision on who becomes the next chair of the fed rests solely in the hands of the president. so who is in the running? usually the easiest and most desired outcome from wall street is to maintain the status quo. here that

ms janet yellen. but she has disagree with the president in terms of rolling back banking rules since the financial crisis. then there is gary cohn, the head of the president's economic - he gary cohn, the head of the president's economic- he was president's economic council. he was considered the favourite, but their relationship went south, after he disagreed with the president's response to the violence in charlottesville. response to the violence in cha rlottesville. so response to the violence in charlottesville. so who is left? john taylor. he is a stanford economist and always on the republican list of potential fages. but never gets thejob. republican list of potential fages. but never gets the job. —— republican list of potential fages. but never gets thejob. —— fed chairs. he is a poor clippings that interest rate should be lowered despite inflation. next isjerome powell, a member of the federal board, and has expressed on the —— and has its roots in the private sector. and then there is kevin

warsh. he has been on the fed bought for more than a decade, so knows the gig- for more than a decade, so knows the gig. but he may want interest rates go. and he was warned about inflation. whoever rodez will have a ahead steering away difficultjob ahead steering away from historically low interest rates. with me is nandini ramakrishnan, global market strategist atjp morgan asset management. good morning. good to see you. so is samir hussein was talking to some of the candidates. there are few fair, powell, the continuity candidate, then taylor, who could be a little bit more unpredictable. yes, there isa bit more unpredictable. yes, there is a difference between powell having experience and working with the taylor for several years, and

taylor, who is eight professor who invented the taylor rule, and according to that rule, they should be higher than where they are now. this is a continuity candidate versus somebody who is a little bit mawkish. it is important to remember that whoever is picked, they are still working with a fed that has many participants and interest rates will not change necessarily straight after the appointment. that is right. there would be an immediate shed. and over has thejob right. there would be an immediate shed. and over has the job will be very conscious of the power they'd have, because the wrong comment can make markets go all over the place. yes, and as janet yellen has seen, that press conference that has the data come out is so important. the way she says several words, phrases, thatis way she says several words, phrases, that is really watched by every pet isa that is really watched by every pet is a bit in the market around the world. from the point of view of

janet yellen, she is not out of the frame completely, although most believe she will not be appointed for a second term. what do you think about that? she did a decentjob, didn't she? she has been the key message person to get the markets in the world to see the fed moving from low interest rates and no movement towards pulling back, so higher interest rates and the balance sheet coming back to line. she steered the fed from accommodative to pulling back a bit. as it is the get any news about who donald trump nominates, we will update you. we need to move on, now. troubled japanese steelmaker kobe steel reports earnings in just under an hour's time. and according to reports, the firm will withdraw its earnings forecast for the current year, as it attempts to come to terms with the cost of the recent fa ke—data scandal. revelations of widespread tampering of data has wiped a third off the value off its shares in the past three weeks. yuichiro nakajima is managing

director, crimson phoenix limited. thank you for being on the programme. i guess no surprise. they cannot give us a sense of what is ahead, the best deal, because of the challenges ahead. no, there is too much uncertainty. —— of what is ahead, kobe steel, because of the. the committee has been subpoenaed with a request for information about what it did and what it knew and when. that could lead to a series of lawsuits, or lead to just some settle m e nt lawsuits, or lead to just some settlement or even nothing. so the us isa settlement or even nothing. so the us is a big market for the company and internationally the reputation is going to be much affected by what the department ofjustice says. so it is not really possible for a nalysts to it is not really possible for analysts to come up with anything

like a reliable forecast for the company's like a reliable forecast for the compa ny‘s performance. and management is also going to struggle as well. can i ask you what the outlook is like? i know you have just said it is going to be hard to say, but will we be talking about them in years to come, or not, giving the charges facing them? -- given. who could know. many futures are in question here, such as takata going under. kobe steel could suffer the same fate, but it could get government and private sector support. it is just too hard to say. we're just the support. it is just too hard to say. we'rejust the beginning of support. it is just too hard to say. we're just the beginning of the whole process and nowhere near being able to give an accurate forecast. all right, yuichiro nakajima, thank

you for your time. now let's brief you some other business stories. puerto rico's power authority has cancelled a controversial contract to rebuild the us territory's power grid. the $300 million contract had been handed to a small montana—based company, without open bidding — a move that created uproar. whitefish energy had only two full—time staff when it won the massive deal. petrochina is due to report third—quarter earnings later on monday. the chinese state—owned energy company has lost $800 billion in market value since it first started trading 10 years ago. it's been hit by a huge decline in the price of oil over the past decade, and a shift in china's economic policies. and the owner of bankrupt airline monarch has promised to repay british taxpayers if it profits from any sale of the company's assets. investor greybull capital says it has a "moral obligation" to reimburse the government, which spent nearly $80 million bringing passengers home after the uk's fifth biggest airline went bust. we have mentioned that it is a big

day for corporate news. hsbc, europe's largest bank by assets has just released its latest financial numbers. 0ur asia business correspondent karishma vaswani is following the story in singapore. nice to see you. what do the numbers look like? at a good, bad, nice to see you. what do the numbers look like? ata good, bad, or ugly? 0n the service, a 4a6% jump look like? ata good, bad, or ugly? 0n the service, a 4a6%jump in pre—tax profits looks pretty spectacular. and that is if you look at the numbers that hsbc has put out. that is up from $843 million in the fourth quarter of 2016. we need to put these figures into context. this is coming off a low base in the same period last year. at the time,

he bc lost almost $2 billion from the sale of its brazilian unit. there was also a fair amount of volatility in foreign currency movements. this time around, the chief executive, stuart gulliver, as the two did its performance to the banks' pivot to asia. this has been happening for some time. —— bank's. at least half of the cabby‘s profits are due to asia. but since the financial crisis, they have been cutting jobs to make the company more profitable, while making dividend payments to shareholders. the bank's continued bet on asia, according to analysts, is why they have been continuing to get results. thank you so much forjoining us. but let's look at what is trending, now, in business, today.

the guardian says the uk could undergo a fourth industrial revolution. a post—brexit phenomenon that could add £445 billion to the economy. and billionaires love buying sports teams. but apparently it's notjust an ego boost, its actually good for business. that story on business insider. and apple is taking product leaks very seriously. marketwatch reports that an engineer was fired after his daughter uploaded a video of the new iphone x to youtube. and don't forget — let's us know what you are spotting online — use the hashtag #bbcthebriefing. let's have a quick look at the markets. that's it for business briefing this hour. come out next, we will have a take

on some of the news stories around the world. first, a story in the uk. nhs fertility treatment is being cut and in some cases disappearing altogether in certain parts of england, especially in the south. while couples in areas such as greater manchester are offered up to three rounds of nf, that number has dropped to zero in other parts of the country, leading campaigners to call the system unfair. anna crossley reports. emma and lee have been trying for a job for more than four years. doctors have told them that without ivf, they have little chance of conceiving. but because they live in

essex, where treatment is not available on the nhs, they will have to pay for it themselves. if i would have known, you know, i would not be to access treatment, i would never have moved here. never. norwood by husband. i know that a fact. it has com pletely husband. i know that a fact. it has completely broken us. completely. compare their story with that of louise and ian. they live in greater manchester, where couples get three rounds of nf on the nhs. happily for them, felicity was born after their second cycle of treatment.“ we had only had one go, felicity would not be here now. and we only needed two rows. i sometimes wish that we could give our third round to someone else who really needs it. the national and sujew for health and care excellence says the nhs should provide women under 40 with three cycles of nf if they have been trying for a baby for longer than two years. but this is merely a recommendation. the final decision

is made by nhs providers locally. the department of health says decisions around funding are made locally, but that it believes eligible patients should have access to treatment. clinical commissioning groups say they have to balance the demands on nhs services, but campaigners argue that infertility isa campaigners argue that infertility is a disease, and that everyone should have equal access to treatment. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: prosecutors in spain are preparing to file criminal charges against catalonia's deposed president, carles puigdemont. earlier, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of barcelona, to condemn catalonia's unilateral declaration of independence. powerful storms have swept across northern and central europe, killing at least six people and leaving hundreds of thousands without power. germany, poland and the czech republic have been hardest hit, with many areas flooded. lewis hamilton has clinched

his fourth world title at the mexican grand prix — despite finishing only ninth after a clash with rival sebastian vettel. the win makes him the most successful british formula 1 driver in history. and markets on tenterhooks with president trump is expected to appoint the next federal reserve president trump is expected to appo in the next federal reserve president trump is expected to appo in the next few eral reserve president trump is expected to appo in the next few days. eserve president trump is expected to appo in the next few days. janete chair in the next few days. janet yellen is the current chair and her term will expire in february. also on bbc on line, a story that is trending world line.