this is business live from bbc news with ben thompson and sally bundock. the us president trumpets his economic achievements in his state of the union address. live from london, that's our top story on wednesday 6th february. in his state of the union address, donald trump describes the us economy as "the hottest in the world, period". fact or fake news? we'll examine the claim. also in the programme. six online hotel booking sites agree to major changes to end misleading sales tactics and hidden charges, following a uk investigation. and markets were on edge for any surprises in president trump's speech. but they didn't get them. so it's a calm start the european trading day. and the gender pay gap here in the city of london has widened, rather than narrowed

in recent years. how to reverse that trend? we'll get the inside track on "the return hub", which aims to place people back into the workplace after career breaks. today we want to know, when you book a hotel online do you feel under pressure to make a quick decision to get the best deal? what is your experience? let us know, just use the hashtag #bbcbizlive. hello and welcome to business live. president trump has delivered one of the cornerstones of the us political calendar, the state of the union speech. it is a wide reaching address to the joint houses of congress where the president sets out his policy agenda. he started with the economy. injust over two years, since the election, we have launched an unprecedented economic boom.

a boom that has rarely been seen before. there's been nothing like it. we have created 5.3 million newjobs, and importantly added 600,000 new manufacturing jobs. something which almost everyone said was impossible to do. but the fact is, we are just getting started. but the speech was also watched closely for what the president may say about the ongpoing trade war with china and mr trump didn't disappoint. 0ne priority is paramount. reversing decades of calamitous trade policies, so bad. we are now making it clear to china that after years of targeting our industries and stealing our intellectual property, the theft of american jobs and wealth has come to an end.

applause with me now is the independent analyst stephanie hare. it has one hour and 20 minutes, that was just the taste! nice to let's talk about the economy, he spent the first 20 minutes also talking about what a greatjob he has done and how now the american economy is one of the the hottest in the world. the united states has had 100 months of job growth. so president trump has beenin job growth. so president trump has been in powerfor 2a months, you do the maths. he inherited a booming economy. he arrived in the middle of that. exactly, and he has not screwed it up, to his credit, it is still going strong, united states added 300,000 jobs in january. still going strong, united states added 300,000 jobs injanuary. why is everybody in america so divided

still? these are not division but are coming out because the economy is struggling. people looking ahead are concerned about the future because 100 months ofjob growth, and wages going up as well, because the labour market is tightening and he is taking credit to all of this, this is all in the run—up to the 20 20th election where we assume he will want to be re—elected. he talked about china and the trade war which is what the international audience will have been listening to. nothing really new there, the same lines coming from his concerns about intellectual property theft. yes, the china trade war that the united states is embroiled in, wilkinson see if he is able to solve this in some way. —— we are looking to see if he can solve this, at march the 1st, further tariffs will beissued march the 1st, further tariffs will be issued by the us. the clock is ticking and that will affect the global economy. some people will benefit from that more than others. he did talk about passing laws so that he could impose a reciprocal

ta riffs that he could impose a reciprocal tariffs on particular goods, something was coming into the us with a tariff, they could return that with the instant similar tariff. but he talks about what he wa nts to tariff. but he talks about what he wants to get through congress but thatis wants to get through congress but that is where the problem is. exactly, the state of the union addresses for the president to talk about his or her record and set out about his or her record and set out a legislative agenda for the coming year. but he is addressing a divided congress. democrats control the house, the senate is controlled by the gop. whether or not he will get anything through depends on whether he can work together with people. body you think about what he said about women, the helpful women getting into work and there are more women coming into congress? he is riding a wave, this is demographic change happening in the us, we have a lot of women in congress come his own daughter is very vocal in women in work, that's part of the american zeitgeist, we like women who work

there. thank you for your time and analysis. so much more on the website. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. six of the largest online hotel booking sites have agreed major changes to the way they operate following an investigation by the uk's competition and markets authority. it said expedia, booking.com, agoda, hotels.com, ebookers and trivago used tactics like countdown clocks and popularity claims to pressurise customers into booking. the sites have now committed to measures, including making search results clearer, and ending pressure selling tactics. electric car—maker tesla is lowering the price of its model 3 by $1,100, after it ended a costly customer referral programme. it's the second price cut to the model three this year and now brings the cost of its least expensive vehicle to $42,900. profits at mercedes—benz owner daimler fell by nearly a third last year amid concerns about diesel pollution and global trade. earnings slumped to $8.6 billion, though revenue and sales were up.

mercedes—benz said increased tariffs on vehicles imported from the united states to china hit demand. strong sales for toyota in asia have helped make up for a poor performance in north america. the car giant issued its latest results today. monica miller has been looking through the numbers for us, she's in our asia business hub in singapore. and ingesting set of figures, a tough time for all car—makers right 110w tough time for all car—makers right now particularly giving the trade wa i’s now particularly giving the trade wars between the us and china. yes, shares are down, and they did/ their net forecasts to 17 billion dollars. unrealised losses on some of its equity investors are partially to

blame, they said, but their sales are solid. if you compare them to about a year ago, they are up 3% and thatis about a year ago, they are up 3% and that is due to sales in asia including china where customers have been pulling back and they don't have the appetite to buy cars and trucks like these two. it makes up for losses in north america which makes up about 30% of toyota's annual vehicle sales. toyota is not alone, last week honda reported fiscal third—quarter profit fell 71% as growing incentives and unfavourable exchange rates are to blame. thank you very much for looking at that for us. we also have some figures from disney overnight reporting better—than—expected profits, boosted by customer spending at us theme parks and at its resorts and media business. in tokyo, markets edged up. investors had worried about any surprises in donald trump's state of the union address but there were none. he was speaking while asian markets were open.

and as we've discussed, car—maker toyota revised down its full—year profit forecast following a 30% fall in profits. toyota shares ended down three quarters of a percent. that's yesterday's close on wall st. in europe, here's the open. the uk economy saw the service sector report its weakest reading since july 2016, new orders were down sharply. brexit worries being blamed for that. the pound also down to a two week low against the us dollar. but we're also starting to get signs of a slowdown not only in the uk, but elsewhere in mainland europe, which raises the prospects of a no—deal brexit being bad news for both sides, rather than just the grim forecasts for the uk. more on that in a moment, but first michelle is in new york, she's got the details of what's ahead on wall street today. donald trump was talking about the state of the union

but what about the state of the financial markets? several pieces of corporate news came out late on tuesday, that's when apple announced its head of retail angela ahrendts was leaving after iphone sales declined. the former burberry chief had been with the company for five years and was its highest—paid executive. also, late on tuesday, fourth—quarter results from snap pleasantly surprised wall street, sending its shares higher. the question is, will that continue this wednesday? the photo messaging app, known for its filters that turn people into animals amongst other things, is the latest tech firm to seek its earnings lifted by the boom in online advertising. looking ahead, car—maker general motors and drug maker eli lilly, they are both due to report fourth—quarter earnings. 0n the economic front, a report from the commerce apartment is likely to show america's trade deficit narrowed in november. of course president trump often cites the gaps between imports and exports with china when he's talking about the current trade dispute.

joining us now is simon french, who's the chief economist at panmure gordon. good morning. there's quite a lot going on but markets are very lacklustre, looking for some sort of direction, half of asia are awake celebrating the lunar new year. there are three deadlines that the market are looking at during the first quarter which they have got to get through. 15th of february, the potential shutdown again of the parts of the us government. then the 1st of march, the potential for a height instead of tariffs on chinese imports in the us economy. and the 29th of march, in the uk, the brexit state. if you look at 01, market and investors are looking for clarity on this story is before they move up or down based on where global growth is going to go. all three are murderously pickled to predict. -- note the tory asleep difficult to

predict. really difficult, —— notoriously difficult to predict. we have to go back to the fundamentals which we know, global growth is slowing but not collapsing, which is about the moderation back towards the difficulty of low trend growth which we have had as a story for ten years. i touched on disney figures, we also had an update from snap, an interesting story about the stabilising numbers because they have been using users but they have beaten expectations by hanging on more. you set expectations low but then outperform them by having a sta ble then outperform them by having a stable user base. their shares rallied by 20%. this was based on decent earnings, not just rallied by 20%. this was based on decent earnings, notjust looking rallied by 20%. this was based on decent earnings, not just looking at the user base but how they monetise that base. but this has been a rocky ride for shareholders. the float was at 25 us dollars and we are now below ten, the shareholders have takena big below ten, the shareholders have

taken a big haircut, unless they see the user base sees rise and further monetisation plans come forward. thank you very much, simon, he will be back later. we will talk about other stories later including the pressure to book a hotel room online, the clock is ticking, it is like brexit! still to come. the challenges of returning to a senior position after a career break. we'll get the inside track on "the return hub", which aims to smooth the path for those trying to get back into the workplace in financial services. you're with business live from bbc news. more now on the news that six hotel websites have agreed to change how they operate, after an investigation by the regulator. they've been investigated over pressure selling and misleading discount claims, making rooms seem more popular than they were. michael grenfell is

exectutive director for enforcement at the competition and markets authority. good morning. tell us what you were so good morning. tell us what you were so concerned about. we touched on some of those examples there but make it clear to our viewers what you were so make it clear to our viewers what you were so worried about. absolutely. we have secured formal commitments to make sure that people who use these hotel online booking site are not misled. and the kind of things which are in our investigation which we uncovered which caused concerns were that the price you see at the end may not be the actual price that you have, there could be hidden charges like city taxes and resort fees. the discount you are told about may not be an actual or real discounts, and the thing you have just mentioned, which is there is pressure selling when you sign up and your told about the scarcity, and those messages, although they can be useful, have in

some cases been misleading. so you have been told that there are 15 people looking at the site right 110w. people looking at the site right now. right now turns out to mean in the past week. all you are told there are any three rooms available, and you think that means only three rooms in the hotel, and itjust means only three rooms on that particular booking website in the hotel. so what we have today is formal commitments from the six main booking sites, companies like expedia, booking.com, trivago, that they will insure that there are no such misleading messages and people can have real confidence in these sites. so michael, is that mission accomplished, problem solved? 0rare you concerned about what will happen next? i think there are two macro aspects. this is a major achievement and we are very glad that these six main sites have cooperated with us and agreed to give us those formal commitments. there are two macro there are two further aspects. there

area number of there are two further aspects. there are a number of smaller sites who we re are a number of smaller sites who were not investigated and they are being written to to say, this is the law, we expected to be fully compliant. and the second thing is, we have given the site until the 1st of september to get their website in order. michael, we have to leave it there, i'm afraid, we have two move on. your're watching business live, our top story. the us president has trumpeted the strength of the us economy in his state of the union address. he helped the economy as the hottest in the world. those were his words. now lets take a look at one of the biggest business stories of the last couple of years. gender equality activists, both male and female, have ramped up calls for full disclosure of the gender pay gap. recent research suggests the total disparity is as large as 116—billion dollars in the uk alone.

and yet despite all the calls for change, the pay gap in the city of london has actually got worse. it has widened from 17% in 2015 to 19% in 2017. that compares with a gap ofjust 4.5% in iceland. but there has been some progress. female representation on the boards of top companies has improved. in 2011, there were 153 top uk companies with all—male boards, today that number is just five, a fall of 95%. with us now is dominie moss, is the founder of the return hub. the aim of the return hub, i understand, is to help those who have had prolonged career breaks to get back into a career in financial services, tell us how it works. the return hub is the business i set out

in 2016, to fill the huge gap in the recruitment industry working with people who had taken a career gap, maybe to raise a family or to sell the business, also of reasons and they want to relaunch their careers. -- all they want to relaunch their careers. —— all sorts of reasons. there are a numberof —— all sorts of reasons. there are a number of companies —— all sorts of reasons. there are a numberof companies in —— all sorts of reasons. there are a number of companies in the financial services sector that have a significant gender pay gap. we hear that they have set targets to address that but they say to us, we would love to hire more women, but there are not any out there. the reality is, there are hundreds of thousands of women who have had great careers, maybe ten, 15, 20 years, they have the skills and experience, and they say, we are over here. but the recruitment industry that would usually connect them to employers was not built for them. the danger and the difficulty is, if women are, predominantly women it is, they are taking time out to have families, they have a gap in their career history and that is the current issue, the hurdle you have to get over. if you are missing for the workplace for 15 years, how

do you get back in without having lost those 15 years? how do you square that with employers? lost those 15 years? how do you square that with employers7m lost those 15 years? how do you square that with employers? it is about redefining the gap, talking about redefining the gap, talking about the benefits that people can acquire, the skills and experience and new network they acquire join the gap. it's too easy and bit lazy to think they have just been sitting at home watching tv and changing nappies. that's not the case. very often the candidates we speak to have been entrepreneurs, they have been launching businesses, they have been launching businesses, they have been doing charity work, they might have been doing further study. they are not all mothers. we work with candidates who have not taken time out to raise a family, they have just gone and done something else for a while. but they are now where deep to relaunch the corporate career. explain why an organisation is needed to get back into the workplace specifically in the city? the traditional path to work through traditional group with methods don't

work for these people. executive search at the mid and senior level will only find you if you are already in a job. the krugman industry at the volume and —— recruitment industry at the volume and isa recruitment industry at the volume and is a competitive process where you have three firms trying to fill a role on behalf of an employer so it is the square is to peg candidate for the square is told in the shortest time frame so anyone who's cv is different will not get a look in. the jobs board, cv is different will not get a look in. thejobs board, senior cv is different will not get a look in. the jobs board, senior roles advertised very often have an algorithm which matches the hundreds of candidates to apply to the job description. and that will kick your cv out if very often if you have got a gap on it or if you have a nonlinear career path. how much of the focus is on the employer being more receptive to looking for these candidates, but also on the candidates, but also on the candidates themselves? i bet it's pretty daunting going back to workplace you have not been involved infora certain workplace you have not been involved in for a certain number of years, how much help kenny you to candidates on that score? one of the

things is, all of those problems is that the recruitment industry not help you, that can make you think that it help you, that can make you think thatitis help you, that can make you think that it is you, that employers don't wa nt that it is you, that employers don't want you. it's very often not the case. we have lots of free resources oi'i case. we have lots of free resources on our case. we have lots of free resources on our website to help candidates, whether it is true cv writing, really important to get that up to scratch, writing a linkedln profile, interview skills, all of this stuff which you can improve on and prepare forced. it's good to chat to, thank you very much, a fascinating area which needs a lot of looking at in the city. president trump is expected to announce his pick to lead the world bank later today. he's senior treasury department official david malpass, an outspoken critic of big multinational organizations like the world bank. but what else do we know about mr trump's choice?

samira hussain has been finding out. former chief economist at bear stearns, early trump supporter and now david malpass may add world bank president to that list. but malpass has previously questioned the role of these big multinational institutions come and has characterised the world bank as big and inefficient. he's also been very critical of the bank lending money to china, which he says it doesn't need. and especially troubling, given the harsh lending practices china uses for other countries. we engaged repeatedly with china on our trade and investment concerns, and the problems caused by their 0ne belt 0ne road initiative which often leads countries with excessive debt and poor quality projects. despite his criticisms, through his role at the treasury department, malpass significantly increased america's contribution to the world bank to $13 billion, albeit with conditions attached. so will countries coalesce around the american pick or will they try

and put forward their own candidate? the latter option seems unlikely, but we will be sure next week when nominations for a new president close. samir hussein, bbc news, new york. what other business stories has the media been taking an interest in? simon french from panmure gordon joins us again to discuss. we will start off with the value of the pound, how much different it is across the country. a lot of britons will recognise this story, as your wages, your money goes further in the north of england than in the south of england. what's interesting about this is it tries to quantify that, it goes 20% further in the north rather than south. to some extent that is being seen as the inward migration decisions of people to leave the south—east where they might geta to leave the south—east where they might get a higher nominal wage but it doesn't go as far. if the cost of

living, isn't it? yes, so people are having to calculate decisions taking into account housing, groceries, commuting particularly the time in commuting particularly the time in commuting as part of their decision on where to work. a lot of firms pay extra if you work in london because of that, everything costs more, be it housing or coughing on the way to work. yes, my first job in the civil service paid a london premium to cover those additional costs and there is a debate going on at whether that should happen whether the market should decide and people should he paid the same but businesses relocate on to work the optimal cost it to do business. this story we have been talking about, this look at hotel websites and how they pressurise people to make choices and book a room. i may have been found to be misleading people. —— they have been found. the reason they are there is to try and provide

transparency in pricing but with the opportunity for people to compare prices is also an ability to influence people's decisions. this isa influence people's decisions. this is a challenge for all regulators, to try and strike the balance between the tools that enable people to make better choices rather than tools that influence them. do you use online when you book holidays? almost exclusively, and one of the things i have to ask myself when i am doing it, i'm trying to source the best deal but am i being influenced? lots of you getting into touch. this one says, my pet peeve is that when it says it is discounting but the final total is very different with all of the fees. 0ne says, it says, hurry, one room left, and when i get there, it actually half full. we will see you soon, that is it from us. good morning. conditions will turn

very wet and windy by the end of the week, all of the details injust very wet and windy by the end of the week, all of the details in just a moment. so today for most of us, it will be dry, hazy sunshine, bright stars but also a few showers. the showers mainly across northern ireland and the north and west of scotland. patchy rain in the south—east of england this morning which will come and go throughout the day. fork in the south—west which will clear. for much of the wales, the northern england parts, try and hazy sunshine, maximum temperatures 12 degrees. through this evening, the rain in the south—east will turn heavy, pushing north—east. more rain spreading into wales, the midlands, northern ireland and northern part of england into scotland. that will fall as snow over higher ground. temperatures dipping down to two to 4 degrees northern parts, no lower

than that, in the south. but whether to start tomorrow in the north of scotla nd to start tomorrow in the north of scotland —— north of england and scotland, clearing away. into the afternoon for many on thursday, it is dry and a few showers in western parts. into friday, we are coming out was the atlantic and we have an area of low pressure developing quite rapidly. the isobars are close together, that means it will turn very windy during friday along with that, so there will be some heavy rain. the rain will spread through all parts as we go through the day, particularly heavy in places but it is the wind, all of us will see quite gusty day with the area of rain. it is around the coast of southern england and west wales, into the south—west of scotland and around the hills, gales expected, gusts up to 70 miles an hour which could cause some disruption on friday afternoon. at that in mind

for travelling. a mild day,, nine to 12 degrees. that weather system will clear away into the weekend, then we have another weather system developing towards the south—west. that is expected to push its way in and that is likely to bring us a speu and that is likely to bring us a spell of wet and windy weather as we go into the weekend. again, gusts 50 to 70 miles an hour possible, with heavy rain. it will stay mild, the temperatures up in the high single figures and into the low teens. you're watching bbc news at 9am with me, annita mcveigh. the headlines: in his annual state of the union address, president trump has made an appeal to the democrats to co—operate with him for the good of the american people and insisted the wall on the border with mexico would be built. we must choose between greatness or gridlock, results or resistance, vision or vengeance, incredible progress or pointless destruction. tonight, i ask you to choose greatness. mr trump also used the address

to announced that he will hold a second nuclear summit with north korea's leader this month. theresa may is set to hold talks with the five main political parties in northern ireland on the second day of her visit there.