michelle fleury isa consumer spending.a north american business correspondent, and she told me the details. well, look if you went over what economists have been forecasting, then this report was better than expected. in that sense it was a sigh of relief, but it confirms what many people have been talking about for a while, and that is that the momentum in the us economy is shifting. you saw this sort of pick up and strong growth emerging out of the world's largest economy for much of 2018, certainly in the second and third quarter. but in the second and third quarter. but in the fourth quarter, those final months of last year, when we saw that stock market wobble, growth started to slow down, not as badly as some had feared, but certainly a noticeable slowdown, and that is expected to carry on into 2019. let's look at some other business news making headlines this morning. us clothing retailer gap says that plans to split into two companies, separating its old navy brand. it will also shut 230 stores. shares have surged

michele fleury reports. what denim are you wearing today? them anywhere. a wardrobe staple, levi strauss is returning to the stock market, the comeback created an opening for one of america‘s oldest brands. created an opening for one of america's oldest brands. it is a good time to go public, the brand is high, it is continuing to grow in the us and overseas and the market has been at a high for a long time and that can only carry on for so long. it is a good time for them to raise money. fashion is notoriously fickle, levi is closing factories in the late 90s, but now it is making up the late 90s, but now it is making up ground. with help from famous faces like beyonce, levi‘s has succeeded in balancing its heritage with the demands of today‘s customers. with an eye on china, india and brazil for future growth, levi‘s route are definitely american. launched during the california gold rush, when levi‘s painted denim pants in 1873, it invented blue jeans, or waste overalls as they were first called. 0nce levi‘s goes public fans will be able t

michelle flory, bbc news, new york. —— fleury.ou through all the headlines. join us soon. goodbye. there's a warning that the nhs in england has no chance of training enough gps and nurses to solve the shortages it faces. a report by three leading think tanks predicts that in the next five years nurse shortages will double and gp vacancies could treble without radical action. 0ur health correspondent nick triggle reports. it is well documented the nhs is short of staff, and the government in england has responded by increasing training places for doctors and nurses. but now the three leading it think tanks are warning that alone will not be enough. 0n current trends, they predict by 2023 nurse shortages could more than doubled to 67,000 and gp gaps could nearly triple two 7000. there is obviously some concern. but those projections are what would happen unless action is taken, and the important thing about this report and the recommendations we make is that we think if we do act on these we can reduce very significantly what the s

the company's ceo chip bergh told the bbc‘s michelle fleury there's now a big opportunity for companyne of the few apparel brands where women's business is significantly smaller. only 20% of the business a couple of years ago today it is almost a third but it is still significantly smaller. we are number one in women's and bottom, globally with a 9% share. it is a fragmented market. it is also one of the fastest growing business. fads come and go faster in women's chaparral? it is. we are waking up technology that could reduce the fashion risk, if you well, and enable us to change things that work quickly. we were chasing things and missing trends when ijoined the company, today we are setting trends. we market leader and have the ability to set trans. the rise on women's jeans has and have the ability to set trans. the rise on women'sjeans has been going higher... the mumjeans. the skinnyjeans but going higher... the mumjeans. the skinny jeans but it going higher... the mumjeans. the skinnyjeans but it has been going higher so we launched the 7—11 skinnyjane higher so we launched the

cuts are beginning to fade, and slowing growth could begin to be a political problem for him, as michelle fleury the campaign trail is plain —— in 2016 was 0bama failed to get yearly growth of 3% gdp so people were looking at how donald trump was faring in 2018 depending on which measure you look at he either succeeded or failed at his target of 3% growth. the key ta keaway his target of 3% growth. the key takeaway from the report is that the tax cuts had a positive effect on the economy, but that the momentum seems to have shifted now in the economy towards slower growth as we go into 2019. let's go to asia now, and chinese telecoms giant huawei. it has launched a charm offensive in the united states, taking out a full—page advert in the wall streetjournal telling americans, "don't believe everything you hear." mariko 0i is following the story in singapore good to see you, mariko, so, huawei on the offensive. indeed, ben. the company has really been on the offensive, hasn't it? we have the exclusive interview with the company's exclusive interview with the compa ny‘s founder last week, exclusiv

and michelle fleury has the details of what's ahead on wall street today.orried that the us economy is slowing down. has that message filtered down to the jobs market? well, we should get some indication later this friday when the us labour department releases its monthly employment report. it's likely to show that employers added 180,000 jobs in february, a respectable figure but down from more than 300,000 jobs created injanuary. and certainly the lowest number since last september. the unemployment rate is forecast to fall to 3.9%. the question for wall street, is this the beginning of a moderation in the pace of growth? well, someone who will be paying close attention to the data is american central bankerjerome powell. the chairman of the us federal reserve is due to give a speech on monetary policy at a dinner in california. michelle fleury‘s jacket and your skirt are perfect matches for the colour of the downward pointing arrows. it is all about the sell—off! arrows. it is all about the sell-off! somebody wary green skirt, then we can have an upmarke

more on that in a moment but first michelle fleury has the details of what's ahead on wall street todayis week to end a year—long dispute between the world's two largest economies. negotiators will converge in beijing before heading to washington the following week in what is being viewed as a final push to establish a deal by late april. talks hit a rocky patch after mr trump's failed hanoi summit with the leader of north korea. the chinese became concerned that donald trump might try to corner their leader with demands at mar—a—lago. so they are pushing for a deal to be locked down before the two presidents meet face—to—face. don't be surprised if markets ebb and flow as information drips out. meanwhile, the economic calendar is light this monday, but it does pick up with the final reading of gdp due out later in the week. a busy week ahead in the us, then. richard hunter is head of markets at interactive investor. you look very calm, compared to where we are in the whole brexit drama. it is only monday morning. come back to me on friday. richard, what do you make of all this, and the

and michelle fleury has the details of what's ahead on wall street today.ade figures from the us commerce department are due out ina few hours and they are unlikely to meet the president happy. donald trump likes to complain about america's trade deficit. when the us imports more than it exports he sees it as further proof that america is being ripped off. the latest release is expected to show america's trade deficit went up in december despite tariffs which were meant to make imports more expensive and less appealing to consumers to buy. most economists view the trade balance through a different perspective, pointing out that consumers buying more goods and services from abroad can be a sign of a strong economy. other data to watch out for this wednesday, the latest report on private payrolls and fourth—quarter earnings from teen retailers abercrombie and fitch and american eagle outfitters. joining us is laura cooper, head of fx solutions and strategy at rbc wealth management. good morning. good morning. you in particular have been watching stirling this

and michelle fleury has the details of what's ahead on wall street today.place this friday. on the agenda, a vote on a conservative proposal to require the board of directors to release ideological information on nominees. apple is against the measure and it has advised investors to vote against the proposal, arguing that a nominee's ideological perspective has no bearing on their ability to carry out thejob. and the american retailer gap has announced store closures, as well as the fact that it's separating its fast—growing cheap and cheerful us brand old navy into its own publicly traded company. that sent its share price up nearly 20% in after—hours trading on thursday. a new, as yet unnamed company, will be formed to include its remaining brands, including gap, banana republic and athleta. joining us now is simon french, who's the chief economist at panmure gordon. welcome to the programme this friday at. thank you. let's talk about the markets, we can see behind you, european markets have picked up off the back of a little bit of us stronger sentiment

we will speak to michelle fleury about how he is planning to do that.n lewis partnership. they're down 45% to £160 million. it means that staff will have their bonuses cut for the sixth year in a row. waitrose recorded a rise in like—for—like sales, butjohn lewis was hit by weaker home sales and higher infrastructure costs. here's emma simpson. their annual profits are significantly down. now that was expected, and the main reason is a really big fall in profits at thejohn lewis department stores. and i think several reasons are behind this. weaker sales and home furnishings. people aren't buying as many big ticket items. weaker consumer demand. and then of course, they have to price match. the high street has been awash with discounting with its rivals, and that has knocked profits. now also, that cherished staff bonus, cut to 3% — the lowest in more than 60 years. the company said it would afford to pay more but it's focused right now on reducing debt and bolstering its finances, to make itself more resilient for the future. this is 0utside source liv

michelle fleury in new york. were you surprised? well, look.s, then no, you will not be too surprised. he has expressed a great deal of skepticism about the trade deals that us is done, he has gone out of his way to ta ke done, he has gone out of his way to take america out of trade deals and renegotiate other old deals that have been in place for several years and now he‘s turned his attention to gsp, a generalised system of preferences and it was a programme designed to help economic development in one of the biggest beneficiaries that is been around since the 70s was india. donald trump instructed his trade team to sort of have a look back at it and one of the conclusions they came to was india did necessarily qualify or had been acting in bad faith in certain aspects of this programme, and that is why you‘ve got this decision. another country being talked about was turkey, and in the case of that, they came to the conclusion that it is a success story there, sufficiently wealthy that it no longer qualifies and that it‘s graduated through th

rival of uber, and this is according to one person familiar with the matter but lets bring in michelle fleuryhare, this would get their company, as you say, a value of maybe expecting around $20 billion and make its boundaries millionaires. and it sort of continues this theme that we are seeing which is tech startups rushing to go public, and obviously we are expecting the ridesharing apt to go public but also next week uber and further down the road, companies like pinterest, and others expressed interest in going public and selling shares on them financial markets. this shows how strong demand is for these countries in many cases who have not yet made a profit. did not go anywhere yet, here is the second. new allegations have been filed against the us drug company purdue pharma and its owners, the sackler family. this comes days after they agreed a multi—million dollar settlement over other allegations that it contributed to the opioid crisis. purdue denies any wrongdoing. i guess this shows this story is not going away? now, per data but also some of the other big drugmakers in the us and

michelle fleury is in new york. their problem? the company was working on the software fix long before the accident happened with ethiopian airlines. i thing the question now is how deep does this problem run? we are talking about the software fix which centres around flight control system, which sort of had this system, which sort of had this system in place to avoid the plane and installing. it would dip the nose of the plane. there are questions you would have this problem were the pilot would have to try and overwrite it, and this is where there are now the finger—pointing going on whether or not there was pilot ever involved or whether or not it was simply this control system, and whether this can be fixed simply by a software patch. but now you're getting bigger questions, and that is what role did the regulators play in all of this? they are questions about whether they were too cosy with boeing, whether they were able to properly certify, and that will be the deeper and more profound question than a softwa r