this is the business briefing. i'm sally bundock. turning off the taps. as bp gets ready to release its latest set of results, we look at the future of big oil and renewable energy. and tick toc, tick toc. time is counting down for the short—form video app to go public with hong kong likely to get the nod. and on the markets: the only way is up except for hong kong, which is arcing the trend globally. we've got encouraging earnings news. talks between the us and china looking positive for a

trade deal, and also expectations for another federal reserve interest rate cut all pushing most markets higher. let's talk about the global oil giant, bp, announcing its latest results in the coming hours. it's the last set of numbers for current boss bob dudley, who revived the company after the deep water horizon disaster left it on its knees. —— deep water horizon. however, big challenges await his successor, with growing climate concerns leading many to question big oil's long term viability? public opinion is arguably turning against the sector. the royal shakespeare company is ending its partnership with bp at the end of the year, saying it could not ignore the "strength of feeling against the deal. meanwhile, in the us,

exxonmobil is in court fighting a claim that it misleading investors about the potential costs of climate regulation to its business. and climate change is arguably already having a measurable impact on the industry. the number of big institutional investors, like pension funds, promising to get rid of their fossil fuel stocks has risen sharply in the past five years to over 1,100. joining me now to discuss this is jeanne martin, senior campaigns officer at shareaction, who lobby for what they call responsible investment. good morning. thank you for being with us on the programme. what is it you're calling for from the likes of bp and its major peers in the globe, what are you looking for? we are calling on all majors to align their business models with the goals of the paris climate agreement. that means we are calling on them to stop investing in projects incompatible with the paris climate goals and to

stop lobbying against fossil fuel reducing measures. but that is sort of what they do for bp, shell, exxonmobil, et cetera, they are oil companies so by nature they can't immediately stop what they do? no, they can't stop immediately but that's why we're calling on them to develop a plan for an orderly transition that will detail how they will stop investing in fossilfuels that are incompatible with the goals of the paris agreement and start investing in the energy of tomorrow. and, actually, all majors have been speaking about their support for the paris climate agreement and how they wa nt to paris climate agreement and how they want to be an active... they want to play an active role in the transition, yet when you actually look at what they're investing in, it suggests otherwise. so in the case of bp, for example, where are they investing their money in terms of their capital expenditure and future investment?

a recent study by the think attack harvard tracker showed more than 30% of the 2018 upstream capex was incompatible with the goals of the climate agreement. there was a shareholder resolution that was filed by some of bp's largest shareholders back in may asking bp to publish more information on how its strategy is consistent with the goals of the paris agreement, and that really sent a signal to bp management that actually institutional investors do not think its current strategy is consistent with the paris climate goals and therefore asking for bp to publish more information about that. 0bviously there's your organisation, shareaction, but there's several others including the big investment banks who are coming up with alternative investment ideas. do you think the pressure from shareholders will be enough to see significant change in this sector or not?”

think it's a combination of different things. earlier you mentioned the rsc had dropped their sponsorship with bp. we've seen huge public mobilisation against the oil and gas sector, a real shift in public attitudes towards the sector, which will embolden politicians to implement stronger climate actions, which will then impact the profitability of companies like bp, but shareholders definitely have a key role to play. all right, thank you very much fork coming into tell more about what you're up to and when we get the numbers from bp we will let you know how they have fared in the last quarter. now let's brief you on some other business stories. google is facing court action in australia over allegations that it has misled consumers about the personal location data it collects and uses. the australian competition and consumer commission says the compa ny‘s instructions on how to stop information being collected were misleading. and speaking of google spending big, shares in fitness device maker fitbit were suspended on monday after reuters reported that the tech giant had bid to buy the firm.

the move would enable google to produce its own smartwatches. it already develops a version of android for wearables. us lawmakers will question boeing's ceo later today for the first time since 346 people were killed in two 737 max jet crashes. in pre—prepared testimony, dennis muilenburg admitted mistakes were made, adding that accidents like these must never happen again. pla nt—based meat—maker beyond meat has reported its first ever profit. the us firm, which counts leonardo dicaprio among its investors, made $4.1 million in the third quarter. the company creates substitutes for meat by using ingredients that mimic the composition of meat, like proteins from peas and fava beans. it's being reported

by the financial times that the popular chinese—owned video—sharing app tiktok is looking to go public on the hong kong stock exchange. rico hizon is in our asia business hub with the details. nice to see you, rico. what can you tell us? well, you know, sally, about ten minutes ago we received a statement from the parent company of tick tock to talk, and the spokesperson said, "there is absolutely zero truth to the rumours that they plan to list in hong kong in the first quarter of 2020". that isa in the first quarter of 2020". that is a statement coming out from byte da nce, is a statement coming out from bytedance, which owns tick tock. if you look at the valuation of the platform, known for sharing 15 seconds of video clips of teenagers lip syncing and dancing to music, it hit 75 billion us dollars a year ago when it closed a three billion

dollars funding round led byjapan‘s softbank. if the ipo materialises, despite the denial by bytedance, it will crystallise early gains from investors like the chinese arm of sequoia capital and will help softbank at a time when its value of investments in companies like uber and wework have fallen sharply. to give you some background, it has 500 million regular users but it doesn't disclose its user base, but it's estimated to have been downloaded 1 billion times on app stores. this isn't a platform without its controversy, is it? that's true. it has been hounded by controversy over the last couple of years, and it is accused of being interfered by beijing, which it denies. politicians have accused the platform of inciting racial hatred and spreading pornography. the app was briefly banned earlier this year

and senators schumer and another in america wanted it investigated over the national security risks. thanks, rico. let's take you to the moon and back. virgin galactic had a successful launch on monday although no jet fuel was required. the space venture backed by sir ricard branson blasted onto the new york stock exchange with shares soaring by up to 8%. the bbc‘s samira hussain caught up with sir richard branson and the boss of virgin galactic to discuss their out of this world business. why would i like to go to space? ermm... ermm... ermm... who wouldn't wa nt ermm... ermm... ermm... who wouldn't want to go to space? i think the reason you would want to go to space is the 500 people who have gone to

space comeback completely transformed. they say it's the most incredible experience of their life. $250,000, that is a hefty pricetag. ifi $250,000, that is a hefty pricetag. if i had the money, yeah. $250,000, that is a hefty pricetag. ifi had the money, yeah. it will be cheaperin ifi had the money, yeah. it will be cheaper in the future. may be in ten years. i think it's pointless. the price might go up a bit because it's for what it is, this amazing experience, but longer term we will reduce the price and enable many thousands, tens of thousands, to experience the of space. the demand for people who want to go to space will weigh outstripped supply i think for decades to come. there's i'io think for decades to come. there's no way i'm going to space. i've seen the movies, too scary. are you still on track to get people into space by 2020? we are... we had better be, because i'm going to be on the first official spaceflight. would you pay $12 a share to invest in the country that's doing this? —— company. $12 a share to invest in the country that's doing this? -- company. yes,

i would. i would have to see the stats from the company first. this isa stats from the company first. this is a chance for anybody now to invest ina is a chance for anybody now to invest in a commercial spaceflight company. there are no others. you could go and see life from the other side. you could be going to space soon, who knows! ? that is your business briefing. more detail on a story i mentioned earlier. the london fire brigade has been condemned for systematic failures in its response to the grenfell towerfire in a report into the disaster which claimed 72 lives. the inquiry found that fewer people would have died if the building had been evacuated sooner. the full report will be published on wednesday but the bbc has seen its conclusions. our special correspondent,

lucy manning, reports. the families of those who died at g re nfell the families of those who died at grenfell and the survivors have waited more than two years for this report, which heavily criticises the london fire brigade. it says its preparation and planning for a fire such as grenfell was wholly inadequate. it concludes that if the fire brigade had made an earlier decision to evacuate the building rather than telling residents to stay put, it's likely more lives would have been saved. the report praises the extraordinary courage of firefighters on the night, but identifies many failures. there were serious deficiencies in command and control, inadequate training, problems dealing with 999 calls, basic information on the building was missing and the communication systems didn't work fully. the london fire brigade commissioner,

dany london fire brigade commissioner, da ny cotto n, london fire brigade commissioner, dany cotton, is personally criticised. the report says her evidence that she would not change anything about the response on the night showed remarkable insensitivity, and suggests the fire brigade is at risk of not learning the lessons of grenfell. the report also concludes the cladding on the outside of the building failed to comply with regulations. the second pa rt comply with regulations. the second part of the enquiry will investigate the failures of the building materials and refurbishment. the london fire brigade said it will be inappropriate to comment until the full report is published tomorrow. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: the british prime minister, borisjohnson, has failed to get the two—thirds majority in parliament that he needed for a snap election on december the 12th. he is now going to resubmit his proposals in a different form on tuesday. 0pposition parties are divided on how to respond.

firefighters in california are battling a wildfire blazing near the wealthy suburbs of los angeles. about 10,000 homes and businesses are under threat inside an evacuation zone. the california utilities authority has said it would investigate cutting power to prevent more fires starting, as has already been done in the north of the state. now it's time to look at the stories that are making the headlines in the media across the world. let's start with the financial times, and it leads on prime minister borisjohnson trying, again, to push for a december 12th election after mps rejected his plan yesterday. bloomberg are reporting that the commemorative coins minted to mark brexit on the 31st october are to be melted down after the uk's exit from the eu has

been pushed back. meanwhile, the new york times focusses on alphabet, the parent company of google, reporting quarterly profits down by 23%. the paper describes it as a rare financial stumble by the tech giant. on a lighter note, the times carries a story on its front page about the queen giving elocution lessons to her dresser, angela kelly. and finally, the daily mail splashes on how to kill a cold within hours of catching it. that is assuming you know you have got one. lots of remedies in there. so let's begin. with me is fiona cincotta, who's a senior market analyst at city index. let's start with the financial times. many pictures of boris johnson, his attempts to get the december 12 election through. he needed a supermajority, two—thirds 01’ more needed a supermajority, two—thirds or more to vote yes. he did not get that, which is not a surprise, but

he is going