this is business briefing, i'm david eades. it's the x factor! profits jump at apple as it forecasts a strong holiday season, saying demand for the iphone x is "off the charts". plus, washington's worst kept secret is finally out. president trump nominates jerome powell as the new boss of the us federal reserve. we'll tell you what it means for the global economy and on the markets: asian shares are higher after another record close for the dow — as investors welcome planned tax cuts and a safe pair of hands at the fed. we'll have all the details for you. we start with apple — it's already the world's most valuable public company — worth getting on for $900 billion

and counting. now its shares have hit a new record high — after it revealed a big jump in profits and forecast strong sales for the all—important holiday season. let's show you the details. apple made a profit of $10.7 billion in the three months to the end of september — up around 19% on the same time last year and well above what investors were expecting. at the heart of it all is the iphone apple sold over 46 million of them across the world in the three month period — up 2.6% on last year. it says sales growth was in double digits in many emerging markets. but it's the next quarter that has investors really excited because of this. the new iphone x is released today. apple has said demand has been off the charts and is forecasting record revenues for the holiday season.

the big problem is making enough of them. waiting times are currently up to six weeks, but apple says it will reduce that in the coming days. for many people though a big concern will be the price atjust under $1000. i think apple has do, in my opinion, pick up its game in some departments. they have upped it with iphone x buffer that price... samsung is selling the same thing at about 40% — 50%. less. everybody is paying for the brand and everybody knows that. with me is matti littunen from enders analysis. you are quite excited about iphone x what does he have the point? is the quality worth $1000? well, it is the

most excited we have seen since the iphone 6 came out. lots of innovation in this model. behind that rant is that great quality and innovation. $1000 is a huge purchase. apple creaming off a bigger profit and do they think they can get away with that? if you look at the cost of the materials and components, it looks like apple is going for the best possible poverty and custom components, cutting edge technologies so actually the cost to make and has arisen. you will have a chance to play with it later today. what are you keen to see? really interesting innovations in the camera and display technology, the

augmented reality features and perhaps most importantly really fast custom chips like machine learning and things like games and photography. there are some issues. the headphones no longer apply. they have a different socket. how will they deal with that? apple will be happy to sell you an expensive new set of headphones are they also have the wireless headphones and, having tried those, it does take the experience forward and it is an improvement because you do not have to worry about the cable. apple is hoping to push user behaviour forward in this. from a technical perspective, it really does work and

quite optimistic. time will tell. thank you, very much indeed. let's stay in the us where washington's worst kept secret is finally out. jerome powell has formally been nominated by president trump to become the world's most powerful central banker. if confirmed by the senate he will take over from janet yellen when her term ends in february. samira hussain reports. months of speculation and conjecture finally ended when the president walked into the rose garden with his thumb and if the head of the us federal reserve, jerome powell, by his side. he has proven to be a consensus builderfor his side. he has proven to be a consensus builder for the sound monetary and financial policy that he so strongly believes in. based on his record, i am confident thatj has the wisdom and leadership to

guide our economy through any challenges that our great economy may face. mr trump interviewed five candidates but iphone x has been the frontrunner for weeks. candidates but iphone x has been the frontrunnerfor weeks. he candidates but iphone x has been the frontrunner for weeks. he is considered a safe choice. he has been under federal reserve board of governors and has experience in the private sector. our economy has made substantial progress to a full recovery. close to full employment and inflation is close to our target. if that sounds familiar, it showed. janet yellen has been peddling that line for months. conditions in the labour market are strengthening and we expect that to continue. while inflation remains low, we expect it to rise to about 296 low, we expect it to rise to about 2% objective of the time. low, we expect it to rise to about 296 objective of the time. jerome powell is likely to continue the fed policy of gradually raising interest

rates, making the transition from janet yellen to jerome powell relatively smooth and that continuity is smooth for people here on wall street and the us market. let's go to asia now and chinese e—commerce giant alibaba is celebrating what it called an outstanding quarter. that's been the top story for our asia business team — shara njit leyl is following it for us. hugejump in huge jump in quarterly hugejump in quarterly revenues huge jump in quarterly revenues for alibaba especially field by its online shopping. they rose by 61%, a $.3 online shopping. they rose by 61%, a $5 billion. online shopping. they rose by 61%, a $.3 billion. the firm also raised its revenue prediction for its forecast. we knew it was expanding to other things as well, investments in supermarkets and stores, started by jack in supermarkets and stores, started byjack mark, in supermarkets and stores, started by jack mark, the

in supermarkets and stores, started byjack mark, the billionaire. also its shopping platform. active users in the chinese retail marketplace grew by about 539 million, up a staggering 20 million injust three months. it has been on a hugely strong run with its shares more than doubling in value and it is gearing up doubling in value and it is gearing upfor doubling in value and it is gearing up for the annual block buster singles day event on november 11. a huge sales bonanza that moves more goods than the black friday and cyber monday combined. good result for the firm. now let's brief you some other business stories: venezuela's president says he aims to restructure all future foreign debt because of us sanctions. nicolas maduro made the announcement on state television at the same time as confirming the country would pay

a $1.2bn bond payment that was due on thursday, albeit a day late. venezuela blames sanctions imposed by the trump administration for its current economic crisis. tesco boss david lewis has told a london court of his "surprise and shock" on learning the company's profits had been exaggerated by £216 million. mr lewis has been giving evidence at the trial into alleged fraud at the supermarket giant. former tesco executives carl rogberg, christopher bush and john scouler are on trial. all deny the charges. and now what's trending in the business news this morning. popular on business insider — the boss of pizza hut says protesting nfl players haven't hurt his business. this after the ceo of rival pizza delivery firm papa john's controversially blamed a fall in sales on a lack of leadership by the nfl and falling ratings for us football games. from the wall streetjournal, a big question for many people friday — who wins and loses

in the republican tax bill? the heirs of wealthy people and some business owners stand to gain from president trump's proposals. and from the financial times: tesla is facing a laundry list of concerns and its share price is taking a big hit — after it pushed back targets for its new model 3 car and revealed a record quarterly loss on thursday. and don't forget — let's us know what you are spotting online. very keen to hear from you. that's it for business briefing this hour — but before we go — let's take a look at the markets: japan is closed for a holiday — elsewhere asian shares are holding steady ahead of key us jobs figures for october which are out later. in the us — the dowjones closed at another record high, partly thanks to relief that president trump has chosen a safe pair of hands to run the federal reserve.

up next — newsbriefing — we'll take you through the stories making headlines in the global media today including the situation in spain and the fed.. plans to speed up access for nhs patients to new medicines and treatments in england have been announced by the government. the move follows pressure by the pharmaceutical industry and medical charities, who say patients are losing out. but it wont at this stage involve higher spending on drugs. our health editor hugh pym reports. medical research is producing

exciting new drugs and treatments but they have an complaint it takes too long for them to be approved for use by the nhs. the government says it once to streamline the process in england so that new drugs for diseases like cancer and devices to manage conditions like diabetes can be made available to patients more rapidly. under what is called the accelerated access process, it will be cut by as much 23 years. treatments will be selected for fast track treatment. this number could be increased annually in future. there at various stages that any product has to go through in terms of regulatory improvement and cost effectiveness. the idea is to bring them all together to run a parallel which will make the process much more quick so those things that really have life changing impacts on people and they can be brutal was

on. it could and bureaucratic delays and speed up access to drugs. the association says it government will see is welcome and should benefit thousands of patients but no extra nhs money is being committed to spend on medicines that could hinge on what decides on the budget. —— is decided. coming up at six o'clock on breakfast. jon kay and naga munchetty will have all the day's news, business and sport. that's breakfast — on this channel — from six. they will be looking at lowering the age for voting. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: spain's constitutional crisis has ramped up with thousands of people in catalonia protesting at the detention of eight regional government ministers — sacked over their bid for independence. apple has posted huge profits of nearly $11 billion —

and is expecting to see record sales for its i—phone ten. iphone x. donald trump is preparing for his first presidential trip to the region — with north korea high on the agenda. in business, washington's worst kept secret is out. jerome powell named as the new boss of the us federal reserve. time now for a look at the story making headlines... we begin with what's on the front page of the financial times. and, after months of speculation, donald trump has nominated jay powell as the next chair of the federal reserve as the president moves to stamp his mark on the world's most powerful bank. turning online to the spanish publication, el pais, a detailed look at what happens now to former premier of catalonia, carles puigdemont, if he's issued with a european arrest warrant while in brussels after refusing to appear in a spanish court. in the daily telegraph,

here in the uk, this article speculates that british prime minister theresa may has given a "clear indication she is planning for her succession" after brexit, by promoting one of her closest allies gavin williamson to the cabinet. over to the new york times, and "the chef who fed puerto rico." jose andres arrived five days after hurricane maria and has now served more than two million meals — what's claimed to be the largest emergency feeding programme ever set up by a group of chefs. and finally to a top story online for gulf news,