News from some of the worlds biggest companies. Well talk you through the winners and the losers. Now, is a five day working week essential to make it to the top . Later in the programme well be speaking to bibi hilton. Shes a high flying Advertising Boss whos just been named on this years part time power list. Ad were talking robots again. Computerised hedge funds havejoined the ranks of the top performers and theyre beating us at poker. We want to know would you trust your cash with man or a machine . Just use the hashtag bbcbizlive. Just put your cash in a tin under the bed no, thats not my advice by the bed no, thats not my advice by the way. Thats just what some people are doing with it at the moment bp the us army has been ordered to allow the construction of the final section of a controversial Major Oil Pipeline in north dakota. Its a project supported by President Trump and that perhaps reflects his support for fossil fuels which is just one of a growing number of differences with the European Union. A growing transatlantic divide is emerging. The president of the European Council says the new government in washington is one of the biggest threats facing europe. In a letter to eu leaders donald tusk told them to use the change in the Trade Strategy of the us to the eus advantage saying washingtons protectionist outlook was a chance to look elsewhere for free trade deals. Meanwhile President Trumps top Trade Adviser said germany is using a Grossly Undervalued euro to exploit the us and its eu partners. The claims were rejected by germanys chancellor angela merkel. The United States remains the single biggest economy in the world, it is worth more than 18 trillion in 2015. The European Unions is second and closing the gap. 16. 3 trillion is the combined worth of its 28 members. But the uk is on its way out. There also appear to be divides on immigration policy, energy, and the trading of goods. So can the world really afford for these two economic giants to fall out . Paul ivan is an analyst at the European Policy Centre a think tank in brussels. Paul, are they going to fall out . Paul, are they going to fall ounm is looking seriously politically for the moment. It was quite surprising to see such a strong language, i saw the letter of president tusk and it isa sign the letter of president tusk and it is a sign that things are pretty bad if we got to this point. From a trade point of view, i think we dont have yet the sort of decision that would seriously affect the trade relations, but the messages certainly dont look good at the moment. The American Administration does have a point, doesnt it . Germany has done very well by being the strong unit surrounded by weak economies and making the most of the Wea K Economies and making the most of the weak euro, over the decades really . Well, we all know that actually germany doesnt really like the current policies of the ecb and has opposed the policies for a while. The ecb is an independent body. It is also i would say, this way of looking at the individual Member States and lets sacred sizing individual Member States and not looking at the whole union, at the whole eurozone is not really helpful in terms of by lateral relations. What about the trade deals that exist at the moment . Ttip which doesnt exist, but could exist. Thats dead in the water, isnt it . If thats dead in the water, what are the chances of doing the deals elsewhere . Turning your back as it we re elsewhere . Turning your back as it were on the United States . Well, certainly as the United States become more protectionist, the eu will be forced to making deals with other parts of the world. How easy is that going to be . Well, the eu would remain a very big economy. You just mentioned there are a lot of other countries in the world and big economy in the world which are interested in trading with the eu, to trade in better conditions and to trade more. I think the us is certainly going to miss this as its pulling out even from treaties that it or treaties negotiated such as the ttip. Thank you very much indeed. Now lets talk apple. After three quarters in a row of falling revenues, apple has delivered a turnaround. High demand for the iphone 7 boosted The Tech Giant and it reported its highest ever quarterly revenues. In the last three months of the year the firm sold 78. 3 million iphones thats a 5 rise in a year before. But its results werent all good. Sales in china fell almost 12 tojust over 16 billion. China has proved to be a difficult market with many homegrown rivals that are much cheaper. Dave lee says that apple was given a boost by strong trading over christmas. They had a good holiday season, higher than expected actually and the move to remove the head phone jack from the iphone proved to be a safe one despite many people being suspicious that was a good idea. That worked out well, but apple are now saying for the rest of the year, dont expect huge sales in comparison because they think many people will be holding off for the next iphone which isnt due until september. So it was a downbeat forecast for the rest of the year, but they will be pleased to reverse as you say, to reverse that trend of losing growth there across last year. So a good result for them today, but they are being quite tentative about the future. That was dave lee there. In india an important day. Our correspondent is in delhi. It can tell us how it has affected the economy. Yes, i mean the Finance Minister here called it a disruptive reform. One which caused problems, but long term benefits in a Budget Speech that many people are calling largely populist, he a lot for rural areas, trying to fin jobs and boosting farmers incomes and insurance and a lot on the agriculture sector, the state elections are coming up, but Corporate India who i was watching the budget with were disappointed. They expected tax to come down. Many here are fearing that while countries around the world are reducing the corporate tax, inviting more investors in, india has not shown signs of it and therefore, they worry that investment from india could actually flee abroad. 0k, india could actually flee abroad. Ok, thank you very much. Lets look at markets across asia. Hong kong open today. It has been closed for a long weekend to celebrate the chinese new year. Mainland china, the markets are closed for this week. We saw upside forjapan which is interesting given the yen is strong versus the dollar. However, the dollar has stabilised in terms of its recent slide. Lets look at europe. All headed upwards. As far as markets are concerned, globally, there is one story there and thats whats going to happen in washington later today at the Federal Reserve. And Samira Hussain has the details about whats ahead on wall street today. The Federal Reserve ends its two day Policy Meeting on wednesday and they are expected to leave Interest Rates as is. After all, this is their first Policy Meeting since President Trump has taken office. The fed is likely waiting for greater clarity on the president s economic policies. Social media giant facebook will be reporting earnings and for the past few quarters facebooks mobile ad sales have been soaring, boosting its overall growth, but back in november, facebook warned that ad growth may slow. Also reporting earnings on wednesday is metlife, the largest life insurer in the us. Now, higher Investment Income will boost profits for the company. In fact, in 2017, metleave and other Life Insurers are expected to see continued benefits from rising Interest Rates and lower corporate taxes under president Donald Trumps administration. Lets talk about the Federal Reserve. The states Interest Rates are going up and europes are staying down. Well, that was its story and Janet Yelland is in the middle of the political debate because some are wondering if the new president will try and replace her, but shes there at the moment. The message coming out of the United States is hawkish. They have raised Interest Rates towards the end of last year and people are assuming that trend will continue this year. We will see another maybe three quarter Point Increases in Interest Rates this year. The interesting thing, thats not set into a interesting thing, thats not set intoa us interesting thing, thats not set into a us context. That really sets the policy tone for the rest of the world. That doesnt mean to say that other Central Banks are going to follow, but the door has been opened andi follow, but the door has been opened and i think its quite likely that the Bank Of England for instance towards the end of this year maybe contemplating the first increase for a very, very long while and its even possible that just a very, very long while and its even possible thatjust with a little bit of a time lag that the European Central bank will be moving in the same direction. Of course, were all looking at the same sort of things and thats Rising Inflationary pressure. Weve got the Bank Of England meeting tomorrow. So weve got the fed today, but also, you know, while the central bankers are meeting with their teams and making decisions on the cost of borrowing, all these companies are reporting their earnings. What picture are we getting . |j reporting their earnings. What picture are we getting . I think were getting a reasonably positive picture out of companies and out of the so called macrosignals at the moment and people are obviously worried for instance in the uk about the impact that brexit will have, but the real economy has done far better than you were being told on your programme six months ago and the United States is picking up momentum at the moment. Thats clear. Its going to grow faster this year than last year and even the European Union, it is an under achiever, but growth in the European Union is going to be a little bit faster in the coming year than it was last year. So a better background for companies and their reporting season will be, i think, quite reasonable. Richard, thank you very much. I managed to do that whole interview without talking about trump. Did we . We didnt mention his name once is a five day working week essential to make it to the top . Later in the programme well be speaking to bibi hilton. Shes a high fliyng Advertising Boss who has just been named on this years part time power list. Youre with Business Live from bbc news. Its all change at the top of telecoms giant talk talk. Dido harding is stepping down after seven years in the job. Shes being replaced by Charles Dunstan who founded the business and will become Executive Chairman. Theo leggett is in the business newsroom. Lets have analysis of what dido has achieved . Well, she has been in the post for seven years, jamie. For a lot of that time she was seen as a Solid Leaderfor the lot of that time she was seen as a solid leader for the company. Lot of that time she was seen as a Solid Leaderfor the company. A lot of that time she was seen as a solid leader for the company. A safe pairof hands, solid leader for the company. A safe pair of hands, but there was one tremendous blot on her record which im sure you can remember. That was in october 2015 when the company had to admit that it had been the victim ofa to admit that it had been the victim of a massive data breach. Initially it thought four million customers might have had their information stolen, but the figure was lower, it was about 160,000 customers. Some of whom lost Financial Information as well. Now, the company has recovered from that reasonably well. Its reve nu es from that reasonably well. Its revenues have remained strong, but that was a tremendous blow to Customer Confidence and it was also a very big blow to the reputation of dido harding because it happened on her watch and at the time executives at talktalk didnt know their systems were vulnerable and didnt know that the information had gone missing. So what do we know about the new team thats taking over in may . Well, there is tristia harrison. And sir charles done ston it was the founder of talktalk. He founded Carphone Warehouse and he will come in as Executive Chairman so he will be a guiding pair of hands for the business if you like and asa hands for the business if you like and as a result of that, hes going to be stepping down from a similar role at dixons car phone. Investors at talktalk seem to be welcoming it. Talktalks shares were sharply up this morning. Thanks a lot, theo. Dido harding was a guest on Business Live not long ago. Cross country commuters to save hundreds of pounds. This is dear to my heart, the hours i spend online trying to bring down the price of a trip of a Cross Country trip when youre trying to do singles and returns, theyre going to bundle them together and reduce the price which looks like its a good idea. Well, its a good idea for me youre watching Business Live. Our top story the new Us Administration poses the same category of threat to the European Union as radical islam. Thats the startling claim made by the president of the European Council donald tusk. Meanwhile, donald trump is pushing ahead with his plans to build a controversial new oil pipeline in north dakota. The us president has previously voiced his support for the countrys Fossil Fuel Industry amid criticism from International Climate change groups. There is a lot going on when it comes to mr trump. Lets move on. Lets move on. Working part time is something that has traditionally been associated with low pay work. But its changing. First, the part time world is expanding fast and, second, its reaching the upper levels of management in some of the worlds biggest companies. Not surprisingly its been driven by women, many of them returning to work after having had children. So, across the European Union, in 2015 only 9 of working aged men worked part time. That compares with almost a third of all women. In the United States, more people generally work part time and more men. Including almost 36 of working age men. And the equivalent figure for women is just over 64 . Our next guest knows a thing or two about the benefits and challenges of part time working. Shes bibi hilton, Managing Director of media agency golin. Shes on this years power part time list that celebrates the uks most senior part time workers. Welcome. Thank you. You start. Tell us welcome. Thank you. You start. Tell us your story. You either Managing Director of a very successful Advertising Agency based in london. You did not start out part time, but you are now part time. Explain how you are now part time. Explain how you got to hear and wide. You are now part time. Explain how you got to hear and widelj you are now part time. Explain how you got to hear and wide. I was promoted to the Managing Director wrote about two years ago on maternity leave. When i returned i wa nted maternity leave. When i returned i wanted to make sure i kept that balance in my new role as a mother and my new role as an md and i moved to working four day weeks, so i do not work on friday. You got to that level working full time. Could you get further working full time . You get further working full time . You get off the Promotion Ladder and you stay there because you are not in the group for promotion. In our business that is something we are trying to change. It comes down to job design. We are working hard to make sure that flexibility is part of the roles that we create. Two thirds of our leadership team, some of which are men, all work flexibly as well. In a company like yours, small and nimble, your staff is very important. You want to retain really good staff because they are the ones who bring in the client and revenue. Ican who bring in the client and revenue. I can understand why as a company that would be important. Is it a cultural thing you are generating thatis cultural thing you are generating that is not seen elsewhere . That is the problem. We are people centric business. Is important. The flexibility and the desire of people to work more flexibly is a growing trend. Businesses in any sector will need to make those cultural changes to adapt. I do not think it will go away. Is it a luxury or is it good for business . That has been criticism in the past, that it is apparent. But we have put this at the heart of our culture and we have seen benefits. We have seen retention go up. Keeping the staff there. We have seen more people actively coming to want to work for us, and it has helped keep our Recruitment Costs down. If you are the only people doing it, you stay in thatjob the only people doing it, you stay in that job because the only people doing it, you stay in thatjob because you realise you cannot go anywhere else to get that perk, if it is a perk. It is not a perk, if it is a perk. It is not a perk, it is a different way of working and it is reflective of the changing nature of the workplace. What we have tried to do is change our culture and change the way we structure our teams, the way we manage resources to counteract that. I work part time, you work pa rt time, i work part time, you work part time, so we are all part here, but you do not work on the days you are not at work and that is very important. How do you do that as the Managing Director of a big Company Based in london with a lot of staff . Are you not tempted to get on your phone on a friday and have the odd conference call. You have to be really disciplined and i work hard to be disciplined. I want to have that day with my daughter, it is important for me. Because 10 of my tea m important for me. Because 10 of my team work flexibly i want to set a good example and i want them to know that when they do not work they are not expected to reply to e mail. We work hard to respect that time off. Shall we move on . You start this time. Saudi arabias oil minister has told the bbc that supply and demand could balance out as early as july this year. He said it would happen because of the historic agremment that members of the opec Oil Producers cartel stuck with non members at the end of last year. That deal was aimed at increasing the price of oil. Khalid al falih was speaking to our chief International Correspondent lyse doucet. Saudi arabia has always produced in these parts to market demand. In the last two years our Marketing Strategy is to sell to long term customers who request shipments for the next month to be scheduled. So, comejuly our the next month to be scheduled. So, come july our Assumption Markets will be balanced. The agreement at that time is to seize the ceilings that time is to seize the ceilings that will be lifted and saudi arabia will be responsive rather than constrained. What other Business Stories has the media been taking an interest in . Richard jeffrey, Chief Economist at the Investment FirmCazenove Capital Management is joining us again to discuss. Man and machine. It is about the computer is taking over the world. This is the list of the top 20. Are you surprised to hear this . There are certain markets which favoured different styles of investment. Over the last year it has been quite difficult to be active because the market has done quite unpredictable things. It reacted very unpredictably in the way people did not expect after the brexit vote. It reacted after the president ial election and that makes it difficult for managers. The computer driven softwa re for managers. The computer driven software which runs some of these funds, so called algorithms, were slightly more successful. You could just follow the ftse . You would not need an algorithm . They have always outperformed . The need an algorithm . They have always outperformed . The markets need an algorithm . They have always outperformed . The markets tend to underperform the indices because of costs. Algorithms give you a steady performance, but there are certain Market Environment in which they will underachieve and they will underachieve the best Fund Managers who have an active view and to anticipate future movements rather than the second to second movements they are thinking about a few months ahead. We asked you at the beginning of the programme do you trust a man ora of the programme do you trust a man or a machine with your money in the light of that story. Rees is saying Market Machines have an upper hand in stable arenas. You are saying in the markets we have had in the last few months perhaps the machine had the upper hand. I think it did. It is because markets were so unpredictable because their behaviour was difficult to anticipate. Ian says robots are not likely to come back from the pub drunk in the afternoon. Another one, the machine is the mans slave and my money goes to the man definitely. Personally i feel the same way because i want to know that somebody is thinking about the Investment Decisions on my behalf. It is generally men who caused most of the financial collapses over the last four handed years, isnt it . Not machines. There is always a good woman behind a man theres talk about card, will bear robots soon be picking your shopping . Possibly in the future replacing thousands of staff who currently pick the fruit and veg and pack it away and then it goes on to the delivery van. You have said it is a threat to jobs. I am told that when the wheel was invented that the climate then was that would be a massive effect two jobs because, we have been carrying things and now we do not have to. I do not think it will affectjobs. I think some of the more menial activities will disappear, but there will be more value added jobs. Lets hope you are right. That is all we have got time for today. Had you for your company. Iam back had you for your company. I am back tomorrow. And so am i. See you then. A windy end to the week, potentially stormy on friday because of deep areas of low pressure moving in of the atlantic. This Feature Moves in overnight and this area of low pressure will bring as wet and windy weather with gales on thursday. We have had a wet start in central and eastern parts of the uk. The next feature is pushing in towards Western Areas in the afternoon. In cornwall and devon there is increasing wind and the same in western wales. Some brighter weather in central areas of the uk. Also feeling quite warm. Increasing cloud and breeze in northern ireland, but and breeze in northern ireland, but a fine afternoon in scotland. A fine end to the day in the east and later in the manner we look at the next deep area of low pressure pushing into Western Areas. It will be a mild night pretty much across the board. On thursday this area of low pressure will be quite a deep feature. You can see pat isobars across the uk, so it will be a very windy day. We will see gales across southern and Western Areas. Eastern areas will see some dry interludes. That wind is coming in from a mild direction. Temperatures in double figures across the board. Into friday this area of low pressure has been giving us a headache with its position. It may affect southern and western parts of the uk, but its path is not certain. It could be a named storm. It will be windy in southern and Western Areas. Temperature wise, it is still fairly mild in the south, a little bit cooler further north and west. That is the trend for things to come in the weekend, feeling on the cooler side. There will be some sunshine in the forecast and windy weather affect Southern Britain mainly on sunday. Hello, its wednesday. Its 9am. Im victoria derbyshire. Welcome to the programme. This evening mps are likely to take the historic step of voting to trigger the process of the uk leaving the European Union. Its a big day for voters, its a big day for politicians and were going to hear more of this. England has saved herself and will i trust save europe and the United Kingdom by her example. I personally shall be voting with my conscience, content in this vote and when we see what unfolds here after as we leave the European Union, i hope the consciouses of other members of parliament remain equally content