this is business live from bbc news, with vishala sri—pathma and sally bundock. up for sale — president macron of france looks to privatise parts of the public sector and raise billions for an "innovation" fund. live from london, that's our top story on monday, 18thjune. welcome to the programme. emmanuel macron looks to privatise parts of the public sector and raised williams for a public sector fund. also in the programme — china hits back against us tariffs, as the country's media calls president trump a fool. we'll look at the potential fallout, as the world's top two economies go head—to—head on trade.

let's look at the markets. the ftse 100 in positive territory. asian markets slightly steadier and we will have news of the tariffs on exports which was slightly shaking markets and we will look to see how those markets in europe open in the next hour. also in the programme... we'll get the inside track on the race of king's. the royal ascot gets underway on tuesday — with millions in prize money on offer. we will look at that in detail. and as cashless payments overtake cash transactions in the uk — we want to know how much do you use actual physical money? just use the hashtag bbcbizlive. hello and welcome to business live. france is set to unveil a law new which could see sweeping reforms

to the country's public services. the move comes as the government looks to improve its finances by selling shares in its state—owned enterprises. the country will announce legislation to enable private companies to buy larger stakes in the airport operator adp, and the energy company engie. also on that list is the country's state—owned gambling business, fdj. on wednesday, the government is also set to give the green light to a law that will pave the way for increased competition for france's national rail operator, sncf. president macron wants to use the cash from the asset sales to help finance a $10 billion innovation fund. thanks. let's talk this through. constantine fraser, analyst, european research at t5 lombard. nice to see you. so the basis of this idea and the companies that might be involved and see parts of

their assets up for sale, give your ta ke their assets up for sale, give your take on emmanuel macron‘s plans. their assets up for sale, give your take on emmanuel macron's plans. the french government owns about 100 ileum poems were of equity —— 100 billion of equity in companies chose adp, gambling company fdj and energy company engie. the idea is to start selling off parts of the french government's the french state's sta ke government's the french state's stake in these firms to raise money to invest in riskier and more cutting—edge technology. to invest in riskier and more cutting—edge technologym to invest in riskier and more cutting-edge technology. it sounds 0k in theory, what about in practice in france, a lot of opposition? this is going to be controversial with some parts of the political spectrum in france, especially on the left and the far right. i don't think it should pose too much of a problem for the president, he has a big majority in the houses of parliament and the lower house and big enough with the conservative lawmakers in

the upper house who are on board with most of these plans. and as we have seen over the last few months with railway strikes, he is prepared to go all the way in the face of opposition if necessary and not back down. he might be interested in snapping up these assets and that of interest to the key foreign investors 7 interest to the key foreign investors? i'm thinking china, sovereign wealth funds around the world. it depends on the asset, so the airports, there is a large infrastructure and operate in france which already owns a stake and will probably expand that. elsewhere, the government is talking of opening up privatisations to retail investors in the way the uk government did in the privatisations in the 1980s. but with some of them such as the airports, the government is going to be careful to keep an eye on who is going to be, on the nature of the new investors, they don't want to be

seen to be selling of strategic french assets abroad. how will it benefit the french economy? the plans go through and they sell off various parts of state—run organisations right now, macron is selling this and saying it will be huge benefit. the reality is, is not going to make a huge difference to the way the french economy works. it is not a game changer, 10— 15 billion euros, which is a lot, but not on the scale of an economy like france's. it is a signal the french state is changing and france's open for business, it is part of reform to make france more appealing to foreign investors. interesting, thank you for your take on what is going on in france and we'll keep a close eye that, as ever. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news... france is threatening to take the unusual step of fining general electric if it fails to create a set number ofjobs in the country.

ge had committed to create a net 1,000 newjobs by the end of this year when it bought the energy business of france's alstom in 2014. but it had created only 323 jobs by the end of april. ge would face a 50,000 euro penalty for everyjob not created. the battle for control of glaxosmithkline's horlicks business in india is hotting up with coca—cola, nestle and kraft heinz group all preparing to bid. glaxo wants to cash in on the indian business, where sales of the malted milk drink are significant, as it is a popular breakfast drinks for children. bitcoin could break the internet! that's a warning issued by the bank of international settlements. it also said that the race by so—called bitcoin miners to process transactions eats about the same amount of electricity as runnig the country of switzerland. now, let's update you on trade tensions. after us president donald trump

announced he's set to impose 25% on $50 billion worth of chinese goods on friday — china has responded in kind with tariffs of its own. and chinese media has also mocked president trump over his trade plans, saying "wise men build bridges but fools build walls". stephen mcdonnell is in beijing. it would seem once again, the conversation about trade between the us and china is getting intense and not going in the right direction. absolutely. most observers would say today and over the last few days, this dispute is escalating. it is interesting, i did not expect the chinese response until tomorrow and thatis chinese response until tomorrow and that is because local time, friday night, beijing, was when the us

announced its tariff measures against the united states. and over the weekend, especially given this isa the weekend, especially given this is a long weekend and today is a holiday in china, in might have expected the chinese government to ride this out. but state council which is like china's cabinet, announced these measures over the weekend. so what we have is 546 us items worth $34 billion including agriculture and vehicles, tariffs on them as ofjuly the 6th, in a couple of weeks' time. and a further 114 items, chemical, medical, energy—related products, they will have tariffs on them at a later date. but something that will worry some observers is this. i have got this report quoting chinese customs tariff commissions officials saying, we have noted the us has said it

will continue to impose additional ta riffs if will continue to impose additional tariffs if china takes retaliatory measures. it now has. but that china reserves its right to take corresponding measures following that. so you can see from this there is the risk of this is just as collating and really developing into a full—blown trade war. collating and really developing into a full-blown trade war. yes, certainly. thank you very much from beijing. in asia, in negative territory, the markets. let's look at europe, which is open. i did not check my watch but it is definitely open. the ftse 100 is slightly up and in positive territory. also this week, we have the meeting of opec leaders and we will be looking out for the oil price which was slightly down last week. we can go over to new york. and kim gittleson has the details about what's ahead on wall street today.

this week, it is all about the us housing market. we will see three big data releases during the week on everything from existing home sales to new—home building in the united states. on monday, we kicked things off with a survey from the national association of home builders which is expected to show the people building america's houses of feeling confident about the future. but the question weighing on the minds of investors is what the prospect of higher interest rates could hold for the us housing market. we have already seen mortgage rates in the united states have had levels not seen united states have had levels not seen is as 2011. and now the us federal reserve has indicated it plans to accelerate its pace of interest—rate increases, the question for notjust investors but would—be home—buyers is whether or not americans are feeling wealthy enough to withstand these higher borrowing costs? that is a big question. joining us is james hughes, chief market analyst, at axitrader. nice to see you. you are going to be

watching the football later, i presume? absolutely, yes. what time does it kick—off? presume? absolutely, yes. what time does it kick-off? seven o'clock, i will be at home. with my boys, my football mad boys. we might be in bed. no, i will be watching it with my boys. let's talk about the financial markets. much quieter week compared to last. last week was bob buster, bs —— we had trump and north korea, this week isa had trump and north korea, this week is a lot quieter. a lot of things rumbling on, and opec meeting this week and oil prices volatile recently. the expectations, they could be raising production for the first time in a long time with the prediction cut going on over the last year's, they could raise production this week. and into the rest of the week, we have a bank of england meeting this week and that runs, we don't expect anything out then this week, but august is the

big meeting for the bank of england and whether we get a rake height or not. august is where potentially interest rates could be raised in the uk. however, there has been a fall in manufacturing for about six yea rs, fall in manufacturing for about six years, construction data is not great, wage growth is not great. the british chambers of commerce has cut its forecast for the uk. our central banks around the world tightening monetary policy? yes, this is the issue and the bank of england have got to be careful they are notjust moving the rates higher to stop the divergences in interest rates around the world. the uk is not necessarily performing well and not only have we got those bad bits of data, we have brexit hanging over our heads and we have no idea what that means. it is a strange time, but we do have the ecb moving to tighten manager policy, the us is doing it and accelerating it at that pace. the bank of england are lagging behind and the probability of how much we

expect to see that, it was around 50% for a rate hike in august and has dropped back now and is around the late 30s, early 40s for a rate hike so it could change. making the point that the bed rates rose last week. what will it do to the consumer and to the spender, that impact? that is thinking of mark carney who is looking in his crystal ball and thinking, if we do do this in august, what is the impact in the second half of the uk? absolutely, we had that bad data but there is one good bit of data and that is wages are now outstripping inflation does help the bank of england when it comes to an increase in people's debt payments. but if england stays in the world cup! yes, that will help everything! that will help the uk economy! we will be spending more in the bars and going out to eat. james wilby back, he has more work to do this

morning. still to come... racing to the finish line could mean substantial prize money. we'll look at the business of horse racing ahead of the royal ascot on tuesday. you're with business live from bbc news. first, let's dig deeper into that subject, the uk economy. the uk is set for the weakest year of gdp growth since 2009, when the economy was in the throes of the financial crisis. that's according to a report out today from the british chambers of commerce. our economics editor, kamal ahmed, joins us now with more on this. soa so a downgrade on annual forecasts, but they expect better growth next quarter. they have said that, but they are expecting weaker growth in 2019 as well. i think this is really fundamental moment for the uk economy. we had those very poor

economic growth figures for the first three months of the year, just 0.1% of positive growth in the uk. the british chambers of commerce now say that business investment has been negatively affected, possibly mostly connected to the brexit uncertainty, that household finances stretched and that real incomes, although rising, not rising very quickly. if that weak growth from the first quarter of the year continues through the rest of this year, this will be a weak year for growth. and the big debate here is not only what does that, how does that affect people's households, but how it affects the government and the government's revenues? we had that discussion about how to fund nhs increases in health budgets, well, if the economy does not perform as well as expected, that is means what is called the proceeds of growth are not really there to be spent. the bcc as well says the government should concentrate on

meat and potato issues. getting broadband connection around the uk, more technologically advanced. making sure our skills are improved. there is a worry in the business community that brexit is sucking up so much energy, the government has very little time to focus on anything else. 0k, ok, kamal, thanks forjoining us, the bcc saying get stuck in, basically. lots of stories on our web page. this one. brexit could cost £1000 per household, one of them, but also on virgin money, the clydesdale bank and yorkshire bank, agreeing to buy back doing it virgin money. the customer service providers say it would be a leading force in banking. —— agreeing to buy virgin money.

you're watching business live — our top story: france is set to unveil a law new which would see major reforms to the country's public services. president macron wants to privatise parts of the public sector to raise billions for an "innovation" fund. we shall keep an eye on how he gets on. and now let's get the inside track on the sport of kings. tomorrow one of it's most important events kicks off. we are of course talking about horse racing and what is, probably, the most famous race meet in the world, royal ascot. over its five days more than 300,000 visitors will descend on the famous racecourse. but the audience is much wider than that — royal ascot 2017 was broadcast in 175 territories with a reach of 650 million households. and it is the most valuable race meeting in britain, with $9.7 million in prize money. juliet slot is chief commercial officer at ascot racecourse. yeah, almost accidentally said

billion instead of million. that would break the bank, wouldn't it? £7.3 million in prize money. right, let's just clarify that, to get it right. welcome to the programme. great to have you with us. you have been with ascot for six years and when i met you i said it is such a strong brand. is it an easyjob, being the chief commercial officer at ascot? i am absolutely passionate of what i do at the course but we have a large number of revenue streams i have to take control of and look after so, yeah, my day is very busyjuggling all of those, but the most important thing this week is the focus of the royal meeting, central part of annual income insuring all the customers who come have a fantastic time. including the royal family. yes, have a fantastic time. including the royalfamily. yes, started in today's 11, a

royalfamily. yes, started in today's11, a royal race meeting, and her majesty will be there or five days —— started in 2011. and her majesty will be there or five days -- started in 2011. ascot has quite an appeal abroad, quite a lot of customers there as well? yes, thousands of people come from abroad as they also have lots of horses coming from abroad. our global race meeting, 13 horses from the us this year, meeting, 13 horses from the us this yea r, two meeting, 13 horses from the us this year, two from australia, and from hong kong as well. so we have people and horses from all over the world. code resources travel? they have a special travelling freight that goes on the aircraft and they have special aircraft. they don't travel with humans. they come across the ocean over the air —— how do the horses court? yes, there was a famous incident with an australian horse who had a very special european court made for her. that is brilliant. in terms of business revenue going forward —— european

coat made for her. outside of the royal meeting we have 21 other race days but this year we also introduced a flower show which was a huge success and something we want to build on in the future. potentially we are looking for other music events and we also have cinema during the summer that you can watch a dorsal lots of things going on outside of our race meetings to make sure we become a day a year venue. outside of our race meetings to make sure we become a day a year venuelj presume you have to select carefully because you don't want to dial the brand in any way? yes, that is why a flower show was hitting the sweet spot. all the people we thought might be interested in horse racing we thought would potentially also be interested in flowers, and it has proven so. horse racing is seen as kind of closed, wealthy, that kind of world, very connected. they all know each other, but how do you get beyond that set, as it were? actor i would say the royal meeting is one

of the great moments for us, moment in the sun, become a leading lights to encourage a broad range of customers. i am to encourage a broad range of customers. iam proud to encourage a broad range of customers. i am proud to say there is actually something for everybody at the royal meeting, whether at the windsor in close, to one of our top fine dining areas, something we pride ourselves on, trying to deliver an experience everybody can ta ke deliver an experience everybody can take advantage. in answer to your question, just try to market it broader and continue to tell the story of what an amazing day out and very special occasion it is. the queen famously lost horses, but you don't necessarily have to be a horse lover, it has become more of a social event? yes, i would say it has become a great event in british culture, crossed the summer. you can come and have a social day out with your friends, come and have a social day out with yourfriends, enjoy come and have a social day out with your friends, enjoy the come and have a social day out with yourfriends, enjoy the racing. you don't need to know about horse racing. it is very simple. the fastest one wins, and i think it is a wonderful day for people to enjoy with their friends and family. which is the horse to watch the summer? last year i said the same. she has come from america and she's racing

in the king's stand and she will be very ha rd to in the king's stand and she will be very hard to beat. what about the queen was my worst?” very hard to beat. what about the queen was my worst? i don't know the name but she has a few. great to meet you, juliet slot. in a moment we'll take a look through the business pages, but first here's a quick reminder of how to get in touch with us. stay up—to—date with all the day's business news, as it happens, on the bbc‘s business live page. there is insight and analysis from our team of editors, right around the globe. and we want to hear from you too. get involved on the bbc‘s page, and on twitter we are at bbc business, and you can find us on facebook. business live, on tv and online. what you need to know, when you need to know it. james hughes is back with us to look through the papers. as promised. we have the story about

the fact that in the uk payment for stuff through digital purposes, card or phone or whatever, has overtaken cash for the first time? wasn't surprised to hear that at all, personally. no, i wasn't, surprised to hear that at all, personally. no, iwasn't, and personally. no, iwasn't, and personally i hardly ever have any cash in my pocket at all. on my bank account, to be perfectly honest! you area account, to be perfectly honest! you are a cheap date. exactly. you have to pay. of course this is crazy, these numbers. not necessarily cause of rising, but what is more surprising, not mrs obama do people not using cash, but it is how many co nta ctless not using cash, but it is how many contactless payments are going through. and contactless transaction. —— it is not that people are not using cash. when you think about where they are being used. the story says the majority are in the likes of supermarkets of course where we spend a lot of money anyway, but there are different areas like parking, and that one i find incredibly easy. so frustrating. yes, straddling around,

you don't have pound coin in europe car, using your app is so much easier. these days you have wearable tech, watches, your telephone, everything can take your money off you quicker than you putting your hand in your pocket and giving it. particularly that your children, when they get your phone and start pushing buttons, quite scary. absolutely. a massive change. it showed a few weeks ago when the visa network went down globally, it shows what a big effect that then has. the whole world almost came to a standstill because nobody had any money in their pocket. well, you haven't. i haven't! you were talking about this before. you like to use cash but i find i spend more money, and we as people on social media twitter what they prefer. leslie says, "i like to use cash when i can for general spends and £50. for me a ca rd for general spends and £50. for me a card is still the back—up." james, not who i hope, "i barely use cash these days and quite often use

google pay on my phone, to pay for everything from bus tickets to food." an old —fashioned everything from bus tickets to food." an old—fashioned comedy. bus and trains and coffee, 50% of the time, 50% of the time for supermarket shopping. in the uk we use debit cards for transactions but not everywhere has cash... yes, that's the other thing. some companies are going completely cashless. new football stadiums, sports arenas, they don't want you to have any cash when you go in. absolutely. james, thank you so much for coming in. been great to have you on business live. i will be thinking of you at seven o'clock tonight. yes! betting on horses. we will see you again tomorrow. this was business live. hello there. over the weekend, quite

a bit of cloud, some rain, and it felt quite cool for many of us but through this week summer is making a return, temperatures on the rise. up to the mid—20s again particularly across england and wales, but fairly u nsettled across england and wales, but fairly unsettled the further north you are, across scotland and also northern ireland with some fronts bringing some outbreaks of rain at times. some cloudy skies for scotland and northern ireland this morning, quite a few showers in the far north—west with a fairly strong wind making it feel quite cool. england and wales, plenty of sunshine, more cloud in the west later on, some patchy mist and drizzle around coastal areas. those temperatures getting up to about 19—24dc across eastern and south—eastern areas. overnight tonight, some showers again across northern parts. lots of cloud really for central and southern areas of england and wales. with that cloud it will stay very muddy into

tomorrow morning. a comfortable night for sleeping. temperatures 16 or 17 degrees. that is because we have this warm air of wafting in from the south—west. and across england and wales. but you will notice for scotland and the far north of northern ireland, it will be that little bit cooler and fresher over the next few days. during tuesday, we start off with a fairamount of during tuesday, we start off with a fair amount of cloud, pot—mac showers perhaps. more rain spreading into northern ireland and the west of scotla nd into northern ireland and the west of scotland —— a few showers perhaps. writer skies developing into the afternoon where it will feel warm, 22—24d. —— brighter skies. this front bringing the rain which will continue to move further southward into wednesday. it morning, quite cloudy and wetter times with some rain and drizzle across north—west england and wales, eventually into the midlands, and that will tend to peter out. in the south—east of england again it would be pretty warm on wednesday,

temperatures after about 27 or perhaps 28 degrees but the high mass area of cloud and rain, a little fresher, temperature is about 15-19dc. for fresher, temperature is about 15—19dc. for the rest of the week, high—pressure dominating. that means thursday, into friday, very little change. quite a bit of cloud beneath this area of low pressure. certainly staying dry for most of us and also pretty warm. temperatures are again into the low to mid 20s, especially across england and. —— england and wales. bye—bye. hello. it's 9 o'clock, i'm victoria derbyshire. welcome to the programme. exclusive: why are child prisoners being held in solitary confinement in uk jails? he was getting out for half an hour

a day, a 15 minute shower and a 15 minute own goal and nothing to stimulate you and he has adhd so he needs that kind of stimulation. no human contact, nothing. the government denies it happens — we've spoken to people who say it does. our exclusive film at 9:15. plus, as the world health organisation lists gaming addiction as a mental health condition for the first time, we scan the brains of 13—year—old triplets to see what happens when they're playing the wildly popular video game fortnite. we'll bring you the results.