a candidate who can "enact change" — president—elect trump nominates billionaire backer howard lutnick for commerce secretary. searching for solutions — google finds out today if it will have to sell off chrome in a usjustice department ruling. price pressure — uk inflation is expected to creep up in october as energy prices rise. and drawing in the crowds — the uk music industry posts record revenues. we find out why. live from london, this is business today. i'm sally bunn dock. we start in the us — where president—elect donald trump has made his latest pick for his future cabinet, naming the billionaire investor howard lutnick as commerce

secretary. a wall street veteran, mr lutnick — if confirmed by the senate — would be in charge of a 50,000—strong commerce department, tasked with overseeing the sweeping tariffs pitched by trump in his campaign. tariffs that could have huge implications for the global economy. ritika gupta has the details. president—elect donald trump is tapping at cantor fitzgerald ceo howard lutnick to head up the commerce department. trump announced on his social media platform, truth social, that the wall street veteran will lead the white house's tariff and trade agenda, with additional direct responsibility for the office of the united states trade representative. as commerce secretary, he would be responsible for enforcing the sweeping tariffs that trump campaigned on, for which lutnick has expressed fervent public support — yet many economists forecast that trump's tariff proposals could cause inflationary effects for consumers. lutnick, whose domain stretches

from brokerages to real estate, had previously been considered for the role of treasury secretary. he's been one of donald trump's biggest promoters from the business world in recent months. and wall street is keeping a close eye on lutnick�*s positions on various policies. he's advocated for more jobs for americans and criticised the us—canada—mexico trade pact as hurting us auto manufacturing jobs. lutnick is also a big supporter of cryptocurrencies, with cantor fitzgerald launching a financing business that provides leverage to investors who hold bitcoin. he's also a staunch supporter of israel — in line with trump's position. terry haines is founder of consultants pangaea policy, which advises investors on political developments in washington. good to see you again. so howard lutnick now has got the nomination for commerce secretary, not treasury secretary — your thoughts?

secretary, not treasury secretary - your thoughts? good mornin: , secretary - your thoughts? good morning. sally- _ secretary - your thoughts? good morning, sally. my _ secretary - your thoughts? good morning, sally. my view - morning, sally. my view generally is that what you're seeing in howard lutnick is the announcement effectively of a team of rivals approach in the trump white house, where he is part of the economic team but is not the whole economic team. and there will likely be sort of a collision course set up in economic policy. and this is exactly what markets don't want, where you have howard lutnick in charge of tariffs and trade on the one side, potentially also the united states trade are presented as office — on the other side, you've got the treasury in the national economic team that are responsible for the broader economic agenda, including tax and fiscal policy. and there's no way in which those can be easily split up, so there is a natural tension there. they may resolve over time and it may not, but markets are looking

for clarity, and they're not getting it from the howard lutnick appointment. {lila getting it from the howard lutnick appointment. ok, so the auestion lutnick appointment. ok, so the question is. _ lutnick appointment. ok, so the question is, who _ lutnick appointment. ok, so the question is, who will _ lutnick appointment. ok, so the question is, who will get - lutnick appointment. ok, so the question is, who will get the - question is, who will get the job as treasury secretary? and there's all sorts of rumours out there — of course, scott besson, the hedge fund manager, has been discussed, but now the ft is reporting the private equity billionaire mark rowen has emerged as a top contender, he's meeting with donald trump today. what do you know about mark rowen, another billionaire in the finance sector? absolutely, he's somebody that — is one of the candidates i would have the confidence of the markets. what you see in this situation generally is what market watchers kindly call volatile. first it was besson, then besson versus lutnick, then lutnick went to commerce, and the list of

potential rivals gets longer, with besson, lutnick, rowen, with besson, lutnick, rowen, with us senator bill hagerty all considered to be in the mix here. what you're looking for again is somebody, lutnick, whose very aggressive on tariffs, and your correspondent did a good job of taking down his positions — versus somebody and the treasury and the economic team who is likely to be friendlier to wall street. that's the kind of makes trump is going through right now. but the situation is very volatile. terry, thank you for your analysis, i'm sure we will talk to you again soon as the story continues. so, how are markets reacting to the latest trump nominations for his administartion? what's been called "the trump bump" seems to be calming, but that is not the case for the world's biggest crypto currency, bitcoin — it has hit new fresh highs of over $94,000 a token.

michael field is an equity strategist at morningstar. hello to you, michael. if we talk about bitcoin, as was pointed out, howard lutnick is a real pro crypto man — give us your take on how far bitcoin will go. 50 your take on how far bitcoin will no. ~ ., �*, will go. so i think that's riaht, will go. so i think that's right. sally. _ will go. so i think that's right, sally, lutnick- will go. so i think that's right, sally, lutnick is. will go. so i think that's i right, sally, lutnick is well known for his role at cantor fitzgerald where they were the forerunners in terms of investing in an asset at the time that many didn't think was investable. so that is certainly giving crypto a boost today. i think also rumours that the trump media company is also going to invest in crypto exchanges is never bad news for the assets. so difficult to put a value on something for which you can't do any fundamental analysis, but it has a lot of momentum at the moment. fire analysis, but it has a lot of momentum at the moment. are you one of those — momentum at the moment. are you one of those who _ momentum at the moment. are you one of those who wishes _ momentum at the moment. are you one of those who wishes you - one of those who wishes you bought into bitcoin in 2009,

when it was worth virtually nothing? i when it was worth virtually nothing?— when it was worth virtually nothinu? ~ �*, ., ., nothing? i think it's hard to turn down _ nothing? i think it's hard to turn down such _ nothing? i think it's hard to turn down such returns - nothing? i think it's hard to| turn down such returns that have come from things like this, but there's been plenty of other opportunities as well and i'm sure we will talk about nvidia and companies like this. but some assets have been running very hard over the last few years. 50 running very hard over the last few veere— running very hard over the last few ears. ., ., i. ~ few years. so what do you think will be happening _ few years. so what do you think will be happening in _ few years. so what do you think will be happening in the - few years. so what do you think will be happening in the near i will be happening in the near future with regards to financial markets? because of course, straight after the election of donald trump, we saw a realjump on share markets, than we've seen a drop off now, they are stabilising — your thoughts? i off now, they are stabilising - your thoughts?— your thoughts? i think the market really _ your thoughts? i think the market really voted - your thoughts? i think the market really voted for, l your thoughts? i think the | market really voted for, or indeed the us electorate voted for a candidate that wasn't business as usual, and that's what they're getting — and that's what they are getting in the trump pics as well, as you mentioned the commerce secretary a few minutes ago. so i think going forward, we can expect volatility in markets as more things come to light and more things come to light and more actions come to light that won't be business as usual, then the market has to quickly

digest that and figure out what it means for equity markets. and just in terms of the treasury secretary, that's the key role we have yet to find out about, that will move markets when the news breaks? i think so, and markets have been very clever up till now. what they've been doing is signalling to trump their disapproval or approval on various rumours, and i think that's giving him cues to some degree as to how to keep the market happy, which i think he does want to do.— market happy, which i think he does want to do. michael, thank ou ve does want to do. michael, thank you very much. _ does want to do. michael, thank you very much, have _ does want to do. michael, thank you very much, have a _ does want to do. michael, thank you very much, have a good - does want to do. michael, thank| you very much, have a good day, see you soon. staying in the us — to the search giant google. the department ofjustice is due to issue its final remedy proposals to a federal court today, after it ruled in august that google operates an online search monopoly. bloomberg is reporting that google may be forced to sell its most used browser chrome as part of a break—up. alphabet — the owner of google — reacted to the reports saying it would harm consumers and it would challange any new proposals.

bob 0'donnell is president and chief analyst at technalysis research. good to see you again, bob. thanks, sally. i good to see you again, bob. thanks, sally.— thanks, sally. i feel like i've been waiting _ thanks, sally. i feel like i've been waiting for— thanks, sally. i feel like i've been waiting for this - thanks, sally. i feel like i've been waiting for this day - thanks, sally. i feel like i've been waiting for this day for| thanks, sally. ifeel like i've. been waiting for this day for a long time to find out what the doj long time to find out what the d0] will say. long time to find out what the 001 will say-— d0] will say. yes, obviously a lot of people _ d0] will say. yes, obviously a lot of people are _ d0] will say. yes, obviously a lot of people are wondering l lot of people are wondering what will happen here. the challenge i see with this in particular is that this is so backwards looking, because really, the market for internet search is changing dramatically as we speak. generative ai is changing how we search for things. people are now searching through tiktok and other platforms that they never did before. to be honest with you, part of me is concerned that this is looking the wrong way, and really wouldn't have that much of an impact. but at the end of the day, we have to wonder, what happens here? and the thing to remember about

chroma is, while it doesn't offer direct income to google, it offers an avenue to their services, and that's the big question mark going on here. and in terms of its value, if it has to sell off google chrome, how do you value it? it's got hundreds of millions of loyal users, i use it, i would imagine most people watching use it at some point. absolutely do and you're right, there comes the big question. the other thing to think about — there have been rumblings, some people saying it could be sold for 15— $20 billion, but that'll only be possible for a very big company that could immediately run into other doj issues themselves because of what. as you said, hundreds of millions of people use google chrome, so they won't change just because it sold. most people won't know or care. but

i think we will see an evolution of what the browser is and does, so there will continue to be value to a google chrome and whether it stays with google or somewhere else, i think we will see chrome continue to play a role in all our lives because of the importance of how information is being reorganised and how browsers like chrome are being protected from agents and other generative ai moving forward. this is a legal case that will go on and on, i assume, because alphabet will challenge any information we get out of the department ofjustice today. but what will it mean going forward under a trump presidency? we've heard the due nominations, your thoughts on how this can play out? irate nominations, your thoughts on how this can play out?- how this can play out? we will see it get _ how this can play out? we will see it get extended, - how this can play out? we will see it get extended, and - how this can play out? we will see it get extended, and as i see it get extended, and as soon as he gets into the trump

administration, which is much more favourable to businesses, i think we could see this case getting actually cut off in google maintaining things as they are. and there would be very legitimate reasons for that to continue. i have a feeling this may not take its course in the way that it might look like immediately, but it'll change during the trump era. �* ., , , ., ~ era. bob, interesting, thank ou. let's get some of the day's other news now. bbc news understands that us media giant comcast is set to announce it will spin off its nbcuniversal cable television networks — which include msnbc, cnbc, and e! under the plan, comcast will keep nbcuniversal�*s nbc broadcast tv network, its film and television studios, theme parks, and the peacock streaming platform. the company is expected to make the announcement later on today. shares of japan's

seven & i surged over 8%, after state broadcaster nhk reported that the retailer's founding family was aiming to take it private by march next year. according to the report, the ito family is in the process of raising over $51 billion to complete the privatisation. seven & i has been under pressure to fend off a $47 billion takeover bid from canada's alimentation couche—tard. the retailer said it is still considering the offers. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

to greece now — which is expected to grind to a halt today, as public transport and ferry workers join a general strike. union members are protesting against the government's economic policies, citing concerns over the rising cost of living and stagnant wages.

elena panaritis is an economist and founder of the athens based think tank, thought—li—action. she's also been a greek mp. lovely to see you again. can you tell us what the greek government is proposing that is causing many to take strike action today? it’s causing many to take strike action today?— action today? it's basically aeneral action today? it's basically general anger, _ action today? it's basically general anger, if- action today? it's basically general anger, if you - action today? it's basically general anger, if you like, | action today? it's basically i general anger, if you like, by private sector, public sector, the country's on pause today for 2h hours because of very high regulations, very high prices, housing rental prices are extremely high. the purchasing power parity of this country, although it's the poster child of the european union, it looks like it's not dealing with its own citizens

very well. 50 dealing with its own citizens very well-— dealing with its own citizens very well. so what economic olicies very well. so what economic policies then _