on sunday, but again, those temperatures will struggle. once again, those temperatures will feel much colder than those suggest. goodbye. this is business live from bbc news with vishala sri—pathma and victoria fritz. are the fangs becoming toothless? two of wall street's tech giants disappoint. live from london, that's our top story on friday 26th october. amazon warns of the slowest growth in years, while google‘s parent alphabet misses revenue estimates, in the latest setback for the high—growth sector. shares in both tumble in after—hours trading. also in the programme... asian giants japan and china discuss trade and currency cooperation, as shinzo abe makes the first official visit to beijing by a japanese prime minister in seven years. markets opening in negative

territory across europe. all in the red. who will blink first in the impasse between italy and the european commission over the country's budget plans? and what will be the potential impact on the oil price of the second round of sanctions against iran, due to come into effect next week? we'll get the thoughts of our economics correspondent, andrew walker. today we want to know, if you were subjected to bullying or misconduct at work, would you report it? let us know — just use the hashtag bbcbizlive. hello and welcome to business live. welcome to the programme. are tech stocks in for another hammering after disappointing quarterly earnings reports from two of the so—called fangs? that's the acronymn for facebook, alphabet, netflix and google. thursday saw some respite

after strong figures from twitter and microsoft. now amazon — the world's largest online retailer — has reported record profits of $2.9 billion, quite a leap from the $256 million it reported for the same period last year. that's an increase of close to 46%. however, a disappointing sales forecast for the christmas season sent amazon shares down more than 7% in after—hours trading. and if you're constantly googling on your mobile phone you've helped its parent company alphabet to post a 37% rise in third—quarter net profit. but that was also below expectations. also out with earnings — the operator of the snapchat social messaging app. the number of daily active users fell 1% to 186 million, as it shifts strategies to attract users. snap shares have touched record lows in recent weeks, following some key executive departures. with us now is tom robinson.

looking at some of those astonishing numbers coming out of the tech firms with amazon's profits 11 times bigger than last year. it doesn't appear to be enough. why are we falling out of love with technology stocks? i don't know if we are in the long term. in the short—term, numbers are and below market expectations and shares are going down accordingly. part of the reduction in earnings has been because of currency fluctuations. i think part of the reduction in the share price has been because of broader market sentiment. looking at it within the context of previous earnings, they have beaten expectations and it is hard to continue to beat expectations. if you look going forward when you need to focus on the fundamentals of the business. do we have confidence they understand the direction of the markets they are in, do we feel confident they have the right

strategy going forward and do we feel they have made the right investments? in those cases i think we see good signs of that. likewise, alphabet, the parent company of google, reported a 37% rise in profits but it's been far from plain sailing for this firm. they have lots of stuff happening at the company and lots of costs as well. they have, and they continue to invest in new areas. they have the core advertising platform, the mainstay of the business. but they are investing heavily in other areas. google is no longerjust google, it's also alphabet. within the google brand you have other google businesses, specifically cloud and hardware that they have been investing heavily in because they see them as good markets going forward. any other bettws you have businesses like verily and waymo moving into an increasingly

diversified portfolio like self driving. that's part of the alphabet strategy. a big part is cloud computing, but another one hanging over group, the story it has sacked 48 people, including 13 senior managers over sexual harassment claims since 2016. the bosses claiming this as a win for the firm, taking a hard line on misconduct. what do you make of it?|j what do you make of it? i think they have come out and been clear that they will not accept this. they take a hard line and i think it's absolutely the right thing to be saying, and the actions to back it up. silicon valley is very much male dominated. do you think this sort of action will change that environment? will it become a more female friendly place to work?|j will it become a more female friendly place to work? i very much hope so, and that's part of the broader context, notjust gender balance, but diversity more generally. we are living in a world where companies realise their brand and reputation are notjust about

their customer oriented view, but it's understanding a more holistic view of what they are about as an organisation and how they attract the right talent and what is their general relationship with regulators and society more broadly. really interesting, tom, have a lovely weekend. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. iraq is to proceed with plans to increase oil and gas capacity — that's according to the nation's new oil minister, thamir ghadhban. he said the country will work with other opec nations to ensure "fair" prices for buyers and producers. iraq is opec's second biggest producer after saudi arabia. royal bank of scotland has said it is setting aside around $128 million to deal with what it describes as "the more uncertain economic outlook". read into that what you will. rbs is the first big bank so far to make such a provision in the run—up to the uk's exit from the eu. the move came as the bank reported a 10% rise in profits. rising fuel costs are

weighing on profits at the british airways owner, iag. the company reported a small fall in profits for the three months to the end of september but beat analysts' expectations on sales. ba faces a potential fine over cyberattacks which have seen hackers stealing personal data on customers. china and japan pledge to forge closer ties today at their first bilateral meeting in seven years. already the two countries have signed a range of agreements to bolster ties, including $2.6 billion in business deals. our china correspondent, stephen mcdonell, joins us from beijing. a real u—turn on relations between the two countries. why now? i think most observers think the reason is because china is looking down the barrel of some economic

hardship because of this looming trade war, well, not trego, a trade war that is upon them with the united states. they have to somehow plug the holes in the economy. you might you turn to? in this region, of course, sitting right there is asia's other economic powerhouse, japan was dubbed the number two and number three economies combined. —— japan. its massive potential. many observers will be wondering why it took these countries so long to put aside their political differences and get together. thank you for joining us. we will be hearing more on that during the day. let's look at the markets. asia in negative territory. that's the figure from yesterday, ending on a positive note after a few days of choppy markets. looking at europe...

all markets opening in negative territory today. and samira hussain has the details of what's ahead on wall street today. how much did the us economy grow in the last three months? well, we'll find out friday when the commerce department releases the latest report on the country's gross domestic product. now, the previous quarter showed that the economy grew at a rate of 4.2%. that's the highest we've seen since 2014. now, for this most recent quarter, economists are expecting a rate of about 3.3%. these are the final gdp numbers before the very contentious midterm elections. we can certainly expect that president trump will be touting the growing american economy. joining us is richard hunter, head of markets at interactive investor. welcome back. we are right in the middle of earnings season in the us. corporate america is updating the world on how it is doing. we have

had some tech companies reporting in the last few days. what is the picture and sense you are gathering as an investor and what kind of mood music do we get from the states?” think the results themselves have been very strong. we have known for some time the us economy is firing on all cylinders. the banks in the us ticked off particularly strongly. the technology sector, as we have been hearing, has been something of a mixed bag. ithink where been hearing, has been something of a mixed bag. i think where sentiment has shifted is that there is an increasing feeling that perhaps the us economy has peaked and investors are looking very hard to see whether there are chinks in the armour, not only in terms of the third quarter results we are seeing going backwards, but also in the outlooks as that translated into the markets? we are now at the back—end of the

effect of the tax cuts and repatriation of dollars back to the states. it was probably a month or six feet ago when we started to hear from wall street analysts about the possibility of a us recession in 2020. the market is not necessarily looking quite that far ahead but nonetheless what it has done is holding the perception and hone the a nalysts' holding the perception and hone the analysts' views very much on any chinks in the economic armour at the moment. technology stocks, we have been speaking about it already, so have they been overvalued? is that the conclusion to come to? to put it into context, a couple of the fangs stocks have doubled so we need to let the air out of the tyres. but it shows you how lofty expectations are at the moment from wall street and any miss of any description is being

pounced upon. you will be coming back to take this through the papers. including whether or not he would buy a 6—foot portrait of donald trump. i think i know the a nswer to donald trump. i think i know the answer to that one! still to come... the european union and italy remain on collision course over the country's 2019 budget. we'll take stock of the week's developments with our economics correspondent andrew walker, who'lljoin us live. you're with business live from bbc news. royal bank of scotland has said it is setting aside £100 million to deal with "the more uncertain economic outlook". the first big bank so far to make such a provision in the run—up to the uk's exit from the eu. this comes as the bank reported a 10% rise in profits before tax.

joining us now is craig erlam, senior market analalyst at 0anda. what do you make of the numbers? there is a provision for effectively bad there is a provision for effectively ba d loa ns there is a provision for effectively bad loans in the future? the markets suggest we should potentially be concerned. we are looking at an uncertain economic outlook and by setting aside they suggest they expect some bad loans to appear. the flip side is that they are prepared, something we wouldn't have said prior to the financial crisis. we are also seeing capital being increased well above the target it needs to do. and profits rising 10% year—on—year. i think the overall feeling around this particular report is positive but naturally leads unexpected negative tend to drag down the stock. we have had some really good results from banks in general. barclays results the other day were pretty positive. is this sector looking quite positive despite the brexit uncertainty?m looking the healthiest it has done ina looking the healthiest it has done in a decade, it has taken a long time to get past the financial

crisis and rbs was one of the biggest hit and it has shrunk a lot in the aftermath. we are starting to see light at the end of the tunnel. we saw a dividend pay for the first time ina we saw a dividend pay for the first time in a long time which investors look for. the economy is stabilising but these threats are apparent and bats for the bank is preparing for. £100 million seems like a huge amount of money. what would they set that aside for exactly? bad corporate loans, bad household loans in the aftermath of the no—deal brexit, effectively. companies that will struggle with looser trade terms and potential rises in interest rates. these are the provisions, things that could happen they want to be prepared for so they are not announcing shock results later down the road. we will leave it there. 0ne one more story, if you are a millennial between the ages of 26 and 30, you can get this new railca rd. and 30, you can get this new

railcard. they go on sale before the end of the and you get 30% off your fa res. end of the and you get 30% off your fares. more on the website. you're watching business live. our top story... two of wall street's tech titans have disappointed. amazon has warned of the slowest growth in years, while google's parent alphabet missed revenue estimates, in the latest setback for the high—growth sector. plenty more on that the website if you are plenty more on that the website if you a re interested plenty more on that the website if you are interested tech stocks. now it's time to take a look at this week's big business and economics news. and it was the week where italy clashed with the european commission over the country's budget plans for next year. 0ur economics correspondent andrew walkerjoins us. when greece was in trouble, we said, what is going to happen but it feels

like italy has taken its place. in a sense, yes, and potentially come in the worst—case scenario, italy is much more serious because the economy is much larger it is so big. in crude cash terms, the debt of the italian government is far larger than greece's, it is the biggest in the eurozone by the number of euros. it would be difficult for the rest of the eurozone to cope. but we are not there yet. if you look at the bond market where the government thatis bond market where the government that is traded, in the last six months or so since we had this coalition government is taking shape with plans to increase spending and borrowing, the cost of borrowing for the italian government has risen significantly and that has the potential to feed into their economy, borrowing costs for businesses and households. but we are nowhere near the kind of levels of bailouts needs that we were looking at in 2011 or 2012. there

are some problems but it is important not to run away with how serious they are right now. important not to run away with how serious they are right nowm appears to be almost like a stand—off. these two prizefighters with italy on one side and the european commission on the other, standing toe to toe. any chance one will blink over the budget and what would be the knockout blow that the european commission could deliver to italy? i'm not sure they have one. there are provisions in the eu rules for governments that break the rules on managing their own finances to be fined. undoubtedly, that is something the italian government would rather not have. but it is not really big enough sums of money to be utterly decisive, if a government felt that the political commitment it had at home and the domestic

constituencies it had to deal with we re constituencies it had to deal with were so important, then they could dig their heels in. suffering a penalty, yes, but not the end of the world. as long as they can continue to finance their own borrowing needs in the financial mac ditz, and italy can, albeit at a somewhat higher cost tha n can, albeit at a somewhat higher cost than they would like —— financial markets. we touched on us earnings earlier growth figures are looking pretty rosy. they are. the figures that we will get, the first estimate for the third quarter, they will also be pretty good. probably not as robust as the second quarter figures. both reuters and limburg have done surveys and have come up with something like 3.3% —— bloomberg. the figure we are comparing it with for the previous three months was 4.2% but that would still be pretty upbeat. there might well be some impact the trade spat

that the us has been having. we have had some figures in the kidding that imports grew very strongly. —— indicating. also some suggestion that there might be an impact from soya bean exports to china.” that there might be an impact from soya bean exports to china. i was going to cut in come on trade, because you mentioned the trade sanctions. the second round of sanctions. the second round of sanctions are coming through next week when it comes to iran and oil. how does it change the landscape in the middle east in economics krcmar it has already changed a bit because there is clear evidence that the number of the main oil customers of iran have cut back or stopped buying oilfrom them iran have cut back or stopped buying oil from them altogether. the big ones are india and china. china appears to be carrying on that india

might have cut back a bit. there is no question that iran is beginning to feel it and i think we will get more of it when the sanctions come into force. the central estimate that people are looking at is that iran might see a loss of something like a million barrels a day in terms of its oil experts which is quite a painful blow but the big question for the middle east is whether saudi arabia will open the ta ps whether saudi arabia will open the taps more to take up the shortfall and they have said they will, and as long as they do, you would expect not much further impact on the oil price which is already a bit higher because of the expectation that iran will be affected. some people talking about $100 but that seems out of reach now. currently it is more like $76. that is partly because markets have been focusing on something else which is weakening demand for oil in emerging markets, china being one of them. another

interesting question is saudi arabia and the geopolitical tension we are bad because of the awful events that have been going on in turkey. again, the fact that the oil prices trended down in the last few weeks suggests markets do not think that, at least in the near term, saudi arabian oil supplies are going to be adversely affected. fascinating, thank you for coming 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's insight and analysis from our team of editors right around the globe. and we want to hear from you. get involved in the bbc‘s business live webpage at bbc.com/business. on twitter, we're @bbcbusiness. and you can find us on facebook at bbc money. business live on tv and online. what you need to know, when you need to know.

what other business stories has the media been taking an interest in? richard hunter from interactive investorjoins us again to discuss. let's look at some tweets. we ask you whether you would report bullying if it was happening at your workplace and we are but a few responses. this was in light of google saying they sacked 48 people asa google saying they sacked 48 people as a result of investigations that went on in the last two years. one from india who says, reporting managers are always supported by a superior soap cases will disappear by changing departments for the victim and they say this also happens to reporting inequality and injustice and says it is inappropriate. another one here, this one says, one of my firstjobs

after leaving school was at sainsbury‘s, he says he was bullied by his line manager. it did not report it because he was scared but luckily other people noticed and reported him but nothing was done about it in the end. there is always about it in the end. there is always a fear it will have an impact on career prospects and you have to rely on others to take your side. keep those coming in. a quick look at some of these stories. i can't find it now! we were going to do one on philip morris, the cigarette company. they have been criticised for being a bit hypocritical because they have been supporting a campaign to stop people smoking but of course they are known for cigarettes. we have had a bit of this this week because ads from car—makers were criticised, nissan was under fire for encouraging dangerous driving by

their racy adverts. yes, a full page wraparound advert in the daily mirror brought this to something they had. the anti—smoking campaigners are saying you're not allowed to advertise tobacco in the uk and your kind of doing this through the back door. philip morris is saying, we are all aiming towards a society where nobody smokes but at the moment, 87% of their revenues come from cigarettes. they have been spending a great deal of money on alternative products. you can see, in terms of the campaigners, where they are coming from, that this could be some sort of indirect form of advertising. it is this idea of companies backing the side that is the most loaded criticisms towards them. the other day, people saying date the biggest weapon to society. you're absolutely right. and with

advertising generally, they like to push the envelope and see what backlash they get and perhaps take a slightly different course. we can talk about this story because i have found it! bit it in the sydney morning herald. no one wanted to buy donald trump's portrait so his own charity had to. he paid $10,000 for a 6—foot oil portrait of himself. would you have bought it?” a 6—foot oil portrait of himself. would you have bought it? i don't think so! he thought he was starting the bidding but no one put in another bid! ‘s this is part of a case that has been brought against the trump charitable foundation. in terms of that painting it ended up on the hotel wall, one of the hotels in florida so they are doing he got benefit out of it. the hotels as it did not realise and they found it in

a storeroom. thank you very much, that's all we have time for. goodbye. hello. today is the day, we have been talking about it all week but we finally get this cold arctic air moving in across the uk. it will bring is a mixture of sunshine and showers. this morning, some cloud and rain with this cold front moving southwards but behind it the air is coming from the arctic and the real cold feeling. showers moving in, they will turn wintry over the high ground, above 400 metres and showers on the east coast and a few in the west. for many, dry with sunny spells and temperatures only reaching 8—11d so significantly

colder compared to yesterday. this evening and overnight, the northerly wind brings in those showers come increasingly to the east of england but many have clear spells and it will be cold. a widespread frost expected on saturday morning. lows around freezing. for many, a lovely start to the weekend, all of sunshine, a crisp start. showers are defecting eastern parts of england, some in west wales, perhaps south—west england and across northern ireland. for most it is dry and sunny but colder. the temperature is saying around 7—9d but that is only half the story because with the strong northerly wind it will feel more like this. 0nly wind it will feel more like this. only one in aberdeen, three or 4 degrees elsewhere. going into sunday, the wind direction changes slightly with more of a

north—easterly wind, still coming from the arctic but it changes the shower distribution. more on the east coast and increasingly in the south—east. the further west you are, dryer, certainly for northern ireland and western wales. for many, a dry day with lots of sunshine and maximum temperatures of 7—10d but it will feel cold and that suggests. a brief reminder that going into sunday the clocks go back. that means it will start to get dark by about 4:45pm. a change with colder weather and darker evenings. at a good one whatever you are doing. goodbye. hello. it's friday, it's 9:00am. i'm chloe tilley, welcome to the programme. some mps are calling for retail tycoon sir philip green to be stripped of his knighthood, if claims against him of sexual and racial harassment are proven. a court injunction prevented the identification of the businessman after allegations were printed in a newspaper

but that doesn't apply in parliament. i feel it is my duty under parliamentary privilege to name philip green as the individual in question, given that the media have been subject to an injunction preventing publication of the full details of a story, which is clearly in the public interest. sir philip says he "categorically and wholly" denies the allegations. but what might such claims do to his reputation, and his business? universal credit is causing "unacceptable ha rdship" for the very