this is the business briefing. i'm victoria fritz. tougher times for alibaba — as a slowing chinese economy weighs on the e—commerce giant. plus — you're hired! us retailers fight to attract holiday season staff amid the lowestjobless rate in almost half a century and on the markets, asian sharesjumping on news the us and chinese presidents have spoken on the phone, raising hopes of a thaw in trade tensions. that's after a rally in the us — but a disappointing forecast from apple after the bell perhaps keeping a lid on those gains. we start with alibaba. it's china's answer to amazon and ebay. and since it floated in new york four years ago — it has become one of the world's most valuable technology companies. but results out in a few hours time could confirm times are getting tougher for the e—commerce giant.

alibaba's shares have lost around a third of their value since their peak this summer. so what's going on? alibaba dominates china's online shopping market — the world's biggest. 75% of its revenue comes from inside china but china's economy is slowing. the latest growth figures were the weakest in almost a decade. and aliba ba has struggled to expand internationally. its overseas site aliexpress accounts for just 5% of revenue. founderjack ma — who currently tops china's rich list — is retiring as chairman to focus on his philanthropy. he has warned of "turbulence and instability" becaused of the us—china trade war — but says alibaba will

find new opportunities. duncan clark is chairman of consultants bda china — and author of aliba ba: the house that jack ma built. the man who knows everything about jack ma. what is the single biggest threat to alibaba's future? you really named it, if there is a slowing chinese economy can, particularly a consumer slowdown. it affects alibaba particularly a consumer slowdown. it affects aliba ba and particularly a consumer slowdown. it affects alibaba and we will see with those results and in the coming weeks, the big single state, china's equivalent to valentine's day, the spending spree, whether there will be weakening. how much of a blow is it that jack ma will be stepping down is due. this tried to soften it as much as possible. it's not for another year or 11 months now. his long talked about building a company that would last 100 years. in his letter to shell holders, he said this is not the first time you space to crisis. china, facing a crisis,

rather. he is trying to remove himself as much as possible. he remains the symbol. there is a big bench of talent there. the man replacing him has been around, an insider, he knows his business well. he was very much the growth of this single state thing, and the big push 110w single state thing, and the big push now is individual areas like cloud computing, new retail, quantum computing. it's great that it is quite costly. people are really watching the margins. can they boost the margins. duncan clark, thank you very much bejoining us from beijing. let's stay with china because asian markets have been given a boost by the news

president xijinping has had a telephone conversation with president trump — raising hopes of a thawing in trade tensions between the world's biggest economies. 0ur asia business correspondent karishma vaswani has been looking into this for us. is this enough, just a telephone conversation, to send markets soaring? it would seem so, victoria, and these days, if you want to get some information for the direction of the relationship between the united states and china, then—president trump's twitter feed is where to go. in a tweet, that is how we found out. the us president said he had a very long and good conversation. he also said the conversation. he also said the conversation had a very heavy emphasis. those discussions are moving along nicely. at the 620 summit in argentina later this month. that is the big question,

whether or not these two leaders will sit down, have a conversation about what to do, will beijing accommodate some of the things that washington has consistently asked for, things like addressing issues, intellectual property theft as well as property transfer. no signs of capitulation but the fact that these two men have agreed in theory was certainly according to president trump's tweet, to sit down and meet at the 620 is enough to get investors a little happier than they have been. there are going to leave it there. let's go to the us now — where jobs figures out later will show unemployment is at its lowest in almost half a century. good news for the us economy maybe and for president trump as he heads into midterm elections. but it's a real headache for retail companies trying to attract temporary workers for the holiday shopping season. kim 6ittleson attended national hiring day at one of the biggest chains.

hi, ladies and gentlemen. for those who have signed in, you don't need to sit and wait. if you need to use the bathroom or get something to drink, please go and get it. usually it is jcpenney‘s drink, please go and get it. usually it isjcpenney‘s sales that draw crowds but these people like you are a different reason, they want a job. and jcpenney wants to hire them but with a tight labour market, this year the retailer has gone to extreme measures, moving its national hiring day a week earlier in the hopes of beating out competitors like macy's and nordstrom. we are having this event today to get a big jump on holiday hiring, we get the best of the best earlier as people look to apply across retailers so we get the best applicants much earlier. to meet

demand, this jcpenney applicants much earlier. to meet demand, thisjcpenney needs to hire 110 workers these holidays. to lock them in after a 5— minutejob interview, successful candidates are offered a job on the spot. the jobseekers here are diverse but what unites them is a pervasive sense of optimism. definitely, ithink the economy is better than last year. they keep saying the economy is doing great but i've still got money there the time living off. its national hiring day so i feel like there is a better chance instead of a day where it's a regular day like today. and they are right to be optimistic. unemployment is at a 50— year low in the us and that has put retailers like jcpenney in year low in the us and that has put retailers likejcpenney in a bind. it's a tight labour market, is competitive out there. there are morejobs available competitive out there. there are more jobs available than jobseekers so it's a challenge for everyone in this retail, it's very active, some

businesses see 30% of total sales during the retail period so it's really important to them to be able to hire going into the holiday season. that's led to some pretty desperate behaviour. coles started hiring injune and other companies like ups are emphasising that these temporaryjobs don't like ups are emphasising that these temporary jobs don't necessarily need to end once the holiday decorations go away. you may start asa decorations go away. you may start as a holiday seasonal employee but the sky ‘s the limit. i started as a holiday seasonal employee. 0ur ceo also started as a holiday seasonal employee. this year for retailers when it comes to holiday hiring, it not too early to start to feel that christmas cheer. now let's brief you on some other business stories. the stock market value of apple has fallen below a trillion it's raining again dollars after disappointing forecasts sent shares down 7% in after—hours trading. apple said revenues jumped 20% in the last three months and prrofits were up 31%

to over $14 billion. but the company warned sales for the next quarter — the crucial holiday season — would probably be lower than wall street was expecting. the us justice department has indicted three individuals and two companies based in china and taiwan for allegedly stealing trade secrets from us chipmaker micron. us attorney 6eneraljeff sessions said "chinese economic espionage against the united states has been increasing — and it has been increasing rapidly." this is the fourth such spying case the department has brought against chinese—based companies and individuals since september. and now, what's trending in the business news this morning. lots of coverage of apple's disappointing forecast. but cnbc takes the longer view and calculates how much you would have made if you invested $1,000 in apple when it floated in 1980. the answer is $500,000. 0n bloomberg —

iran sanctions kick in, bringing biggest oil disruption in years. it says the effect on oil supplies after the deadline on sunday night will be the most since the libyan civil war at the start of the decade (ani) on business insider —starbucks says a lack of festivity is to blame for last year's holiday sales slump, and it's doubling down on seasonal cheer. it has been criticized for ignoring christmas in the past. red cups and aprons come in from this friday. and don't forget — let is know what you are spotting online — use the hashtag #bbcthebriefing. that's it for the business briefing this hour but before we go, here are the markets. up next — newsbriefing — we'll take you through ther stories making headlines in the global news media today.

the uk is experiencing more extreme weather, according to a new study by the met office. it says when comparing the last ten years to the previous 30, the hottest days have become hotter, while the coldest days are not as cold as they were. it's also recorded more examples of what it calls "tropical nights", where there's no respite from the heat. with the details, here's our news correspondent ben ando. who can forget the long, hot summer of 2018? well, get used to it because the met office says long spells of warm weather and individual scorching summer days are both on the rise. the report co m pa res both on the rise. the report compares extreme weather from the

19605, 705 and 805 to the period from 2008 until 2017. it found spells of warm weather more than doubled but individual hot days and 0.8 celsius hotter and cold days a milder, on average, 1.7 celsius warmer than in the past but it's not all about the heat. there also been all about the heat. there also been a 17% increase in days of heavy rain. and while it may not be like it at the start of november, researchers say the number of tropical nights, where temperatures don't fall below 20 celsius, or 68 fahrenheit, are also on the increase. in the 30 years between 1960 and 1990, there were just eight as last summer alone, there been two. though tropical nights can have a downside. 6in two. though tropical nights can have a downside. gin and tonics! in periods of very high temperatures, they can be a hazard for the elderly who get no respite from the heat.

and though this study has focused on extreme weather conditions, the met 0ffice extreme weather conditions, the met office says it is consistent with worldwide trends in global warming driven primarily by fossil fuels. coming up at six o'clock on breakfastjon kay and naga munchetty will have all the day's news, business and sport. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: the us is mobilising thousands of troops — as president trump ramps up his rhetoric on immigration with an eye to voters in the midterm elections. south african health officials say they're struggling to cope — as cases of teenage pregnancy continue to rise. and yemen's houthi rebels have told the bbc the world must wake up to what it calls saudi atrocities. three years of war have left ten thousand dead — and 12 million facing famine. now it's time to look at the stories that are making

the headlines in the media across the world. we begin with the new york times and us president donald trump who ahead of the us midterm elections is keeping the spotlight on his hardline immigration policies. mr trump said he is "finalizing a plan" to deny asylum claims from people who enter the country illegally. the guardian leads with reports the uk's national crime agency is to investigate allegations of multiple criminal offences by business man arron banks and his unofficial leave campaign in the brexit referendum. in the telegraph business section, the bank of england could hike interest rates in a no—deal brexit despite the risk of harming growth in an economic emergency. 6overnor mark carney, said it is possible that a cliff—edge brexit could have similarities to the oil shocks of the 19705 when prices soared. technology news website wired looks at how thousands of 6oogle employees and contractors joined a worldwide walkout

to protest 6oogle's handling of sexual harassment claims and other workplace issues such as equal pay. are and finally in the independent, the genetic codes of every animal, plant and fungus in the uk will be sequenced in a massive new project scientists say will benefit everything from conservation to medicine. called the darwin tree of life project, the initiative is part of a massive global effort to unravel the dna of all life on earth