this is business briefing. i'm sally bundock. correction or collapse? asian markets follow the us into the red after the dowjones suffers its biggest one—day fall in history. will the oil giant, bp, buck the trend? the company is expected to post some impressive numbers as the price of crude recovers. these are the financial markets. that was the big crash on the dow. the nikkei is down significantly. hong kong having a bad we will tell you everything you everything you need to know. —— bad time. so, let's get cracking. it is time

to fasten your seatbelts. if you work in financial markets, it is a sea of red. definitely a sea of red on asian markets today as the major indices all head lower following those big losses in the us. the nikkei is down over 6.5% and the hang seng is down nearly 5%. the worst day for hong kong for quite some time. do not forget, it is really sensitive, hong kong, the considerations on us interest rates in the future. —— to considerations. it is especially exposed. this follows the worst one—day loss in history on the dowjones in the us. safe havens like the japanese yen is in favour. a strong yen does not help exporters in tokyo. a quarter of the trump rally has now been wiped out. yogita limaye reports from new york.

this trading floor saw the worst day since the financial crisis. after months of hitting record highs, us stocks went into freefall. the trigger, wage growth has been faster than expected, sparking fears there will be a rise in interest rates. certainly not what this man would have wa nted certainly not what this man would have wanted on his first day in office. jerome powell took over as the chair of the american central bank, the body that makes decisions about interest rates. and it was bad news for this man as well. president trump has repeatedly taken credit for the massive gains made by financial markets in the last year. but addressing factory workers as stocks plunged, this was one record he chose not to speak about. the white house has said the president is focused on long—term fundamentals which remain exceptionally strong. and many in wall street say there is

no need for alarm just yet. people are taking profits after annexed —— an historic high. there is not much to panic about. that could spell relief for people in the us and around the world. but with a slide like this, it is hard to predict when it might end. bbc news, new york. let's get more on this now. our asia business correspondent, karishma vaswani, joins us from singapore. what a day. give us a sense of how things are going in asia right now. well, sally bundock, very much following on from the lead in the us markets have had, the fall on asian shares is what asian investors have woken up to. the same sea of red

gci’oss woken up to. the same sea of red across asia, with the japan nikkei at one point falling 7%. it has now recovered slightly. many of the traders i have spoken to today have said all the positive news in the us and the expectation interest rates will rise in the us, why is that effect asia? when interest rates go up, hot money pouring into asian stocks, that tends to disappear, find better value returns elsewhere. we have seen that for some time. but i think it is the nervousness that has affected asian investors today. that is despite some government ministers in japan for that is despite some government ministers injapan for instance coming out and saying economic fundamentals are still strong and they are monitoring this market rout very carefully. thank you very much indeed. i have to say that many of you who watch this programme, you are extremely levelheaded. so many

have been in touch with me to say let's not get out of control, panicked, repeat on a loop, the markets are not economics. we will get more analysis on this later. and now it is time to talk about bp. in a few hours' time, bp is set to announce its latest set of results and investors are expecting some positive news from the british oil giant. analysts forecast that the company made $6bn in profit last year, that's more than a 130% increase compared to 2016. underlying conditions in the energy market have vastly improved. oil soared in the second half of 2017 and injanuary, prices hit a four—year high of $70 a barrel. with me is colin smith, director of oil & gas research at panmure gordon & co. it is nice to see you. are you with

that consensus, a sharp increase in profits for bp? yes. that is 18. we are looking at the fourth—quarter. -- is are looking at the fourth—quarter. —— is factored in. we will definitely see a significant year on year improvement, true for the year asa year improvement, true for the year as a whole on 2016 as well. how is bp doing? it will have a good result because the price of oil has gone up significantly. it is a win—win in a way. but how is the company doing? there are questions about bp compared to shell when the price was extremely low and very tough for them. i would think in the period of low oil prices, many of them found the balance sheet challenging. given the balance sheet challenging. given the other challenges, bp had even more difficulties. they have cut aggressively to become more efficient. most of them are now balanced in some way around $50

brent. the question is how well do the new changes affect cash flow? can they make successful reimbursements going forward? —— rei nvestments. reimbursements going forward? —— reinvestments. many would say now for companies like bp, with the price around mid—60s, sometimes over 70, while the sun is shining, this is the time to make investments for the future. they do not have to board up. as you say, the higher oil prices made them feel more optimistic about opportunities in, for example, deep water, which looked more iffy. we will wait to hear positive news for them. that

will be good to hear in a few hours' time. thank you for your thoughts. we will let you know. also in asia, the biggest airshow in asia has opened the biennial event brings together the biggest names in the commercial aviation and defence industries. our business reporter, mariko oi, is there for us. it is nice to see you. tell tell us more. as you said, this is the biggest airshow in the region. over 1000 competitors are here to participate. we are notjust talking about commercial airlines and defence, but also privatejets about commercial airlines and defence, but also private jets as well. in the commercial passenger airline sector, we have seen unprecedented growth. the reason is simple, more people in asia can now afford to fly. instead of catching a bus ortrain, afford to fly. instead of catching a bus or train, they are flying. as a result, we have seen so many

carriers almost starting to threaten legacy carriers like singapore airlines and cathay pacific. in the defence sector, they are beefing up defence sector, they are beefing up defence spending thanks to bolstered economies and disputes in the south china sea and threats from north korea. we will be here all week and we are expecting some major announcements, especially in the first several days of the airshow. we will be across all latest coverage in singapore at the singapore airshow. now let's brief you some other business stories. the reserve bank of australia has maintained its interest rate at 1.5%. the central bank says that loose policy is supporting the domestic economy and this should help bring inflation towards its target rate. australian interest rates have been at record lows for 18 consecutive months. singapore's central bank says there is no strong case for banning cryptocurrencies. the bank has been studying the potential risks but the deputy governor says that it is too early to say whether virtual

currencies will succeed. iam sure i am sure he is not alone in that thinking. that's it for business briefing this hour. up next, newsbriefing. in the meantime, here are some of your responses to the events around the world. one viewer, stephen, says the world. one viewer, stephen, says the bbc and sally, you are stirring up the bbc and sally, you are stirring upa the bbc and sally, you are stirring up a non—crisis. calm down. we are staying very calm and we are bringing you some good analysis. many are saying it is a panic and not something to be fearful of. i will see you very soon. we will have more on those stories

ina we will have more on those stories in a moment. there's a call this morning for e—cigarettes to be given on the nhs because they're an excellent way to help smokers quit. public health england says vaping poses only a small fraction of the risk of smoking tobacco. our health reporter, michelle roberts, has more. they have helped tens of thousands of people quit smoking, but currently in the uk, people have to buy e—cigarettes, unlike nicotine patches and gum. public up england wa nt patches and gum. public up england want that to change and for doctors to give e—cigarettes to patients on the description. the latest evidence reviewed showed that although vaping is not entirely risk—free, it is better than smoking. they say e—cigarettes and 95% safer than most

cigarettes as they do not have the toxic chemicals found smoke. they estimate e—cigarettes help the least 30,000 people successfully quit per year. —— 20,000. despite popularity, 40% have not tried them. experts say the evidence in favour is so compelling smokers who want to quit should not wait for free prescriptions for trying e—cigarettes. prescriptions for trying e-cigarettes. we are confident they are substantially e-cigarettes. we are confident they a re su bsta ntially less e-cigarettes. we are confident they are substantially less harmful than regular smoking. for are substantially less harmful than regularsmoking. forthose struggling to stop, try e—cigarettes, that might help them to stop smoking, which would be the best thing they could do for their health. in the meantime, public up england suggest hospitals start selling e—cigarettes to patients, and change smoking shelters into vaping lounges. —— public health england. they also say non—smokers should not start vaping. coming up, breakfast with dan and

louise. that's coming up in 15 minutes. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: stock markets have tumbled in asia, following a sell—off in the united states. the nikkei dropped nearly 7% and the hang seng by 5%. on monday, the dowjones suffered its biggest one day drop in percentage terms for six years. police in the maldives have arrested two seniorjudges and a former president, after a state of emergency was declared. the eu's chief negotiator warns the uk faces unavoidable trade barriers if it leaves the customs union and single market after brexit. will the oil giant bp buck the trend? the company is expected to post some impressive numbers as the price of crude recovers. we have a lot of detailed analysis

on the bbc news apt. have a look when you have time. if you are wanting an explanation of the us market meltdown, then do take a look. we have our analysis and the reality check on what is going on in terms of global markets right there on our bbc news. now it is time look at the stories that are making the headlines in media across the world. we begin with bloomberg and trouble among the world's financial markets. asian stock traders are now bracing for a second day of heavy losses after a frantic sell—off in us equities sent the dowjones to its biggest loss in six and a half years. meanwhile, the business times strikes a more optimistic tone, arguing that nothing has changed on a fundamental basis within the world economy and that

markets needed a little time to catch a breather and re—balance. the front of city am carries a plea from brexit eu negotiator michel barnier to uk prime minister theresa may to make a choice on what customs arrangement britain wants after it leaves the european union. the independent looks at the reaction from the uk after us president donald trump attacked the national health service in a tweet claiming it is "going broke and not working". and finally the telegraph leads with a call by campaigners to pardon the suffragettes who were jailed while fighting to win the vote for women. today marks the 100th anniversary of their victory.