BBC Radio 5 live

Colletta Smith
BBC News NI

Chris Johnston
Business reporter

Image source, Fastjet

Fastjet is not quite a household name, but we have the opportunity to tell you the sorry saga of a company now worth a princely £12.85m. 

Despite a fundraising round in the summer, the loss-making Africa-focused budget airline said today it needs to find more money, external. The sooner-than-expected cash call has sparked the departure of non-executive chairman Colin Child, who believes it would "not be appropriate for him to continue in this role".

Chief executive Nico Bezuidenhout will become interim chairman pending the appointment of a new chairman. Fastjet said it was continuing to reduce its costs as part of a stabilisation plan, amounting to about $8m (£6.4m), which is expected to give it a boost early next year.

After reaching the dizzy heights of almost £45 a share in January 2013, the shares have since fallen by 99.69% to 13.95p.

That means the 12% stake owned by easyJet founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou is not worth very much at all.

In March he called for the immediate departure of chief executive Ed Winter, who did indeed check out in the wake of three profit warnings in the previous 12 months.

Douglas Fraser
Scotland business & economy editor

BBC Radio 5 live

Image source, Getty Images

When are the peak moments for people buying from Argos on Black Friday, chief executive John Rogers is asked?

"Because Black Friday is increasingly an online event, most of our shoppers will be shopping with us online... because of that we'll see a lot of people on their way to work this morning on their mobiles, looking to see what deals they can buy, so we see a big peak in demand 07:00 to 09:00 this morning, we see another peak again at lunchtime, and of course again when people get on that bus, get on that train journey to come home this evening, so another step up say between 17:00 and 18:00 - those are the busiest hours of the day."

BBC Radio 5 live

Image source, Getty Images

Argos chief executive John Rogers says Black Friday is the retailer's biggest trading day of the year.

"It's a huge step up in demand over the day. But of course, it's not just about Black Friday itself. Our event runs over 13 days, so we actually started our Black Friday event last Friday..."

Big sellers have been games consoles and games, and Mr Rogers expects that to shift into TVs, wearable tech, vaccuum cleaners and toys as the day goes on.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Image source, Getty Images

Wall Street stocks hit record highs this week, as investors bet that a Donald Trump presidency would boost the US economy.

But Mohamed El-Erian, chief economic adviser at Allianz, says the rally may die out. 

"Market participants have embraced the pro-growth elements of the president-elect's programme, in particular infrastrucutre spending, deregulation and corporate tax reform," he says.

However, they are also heartened by what he had not said about the "anti-growth elements" of his programme - such as dismantling free trade agreements. New announcements on such proposals could make markets react quite differently, he says.  

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Pressure on input prices linked to the weak pound is "inevitable" in the New Year, says Argos chief John Rogers.

However, he says the “combined scale” of the Argos-Sainsbury’s business will shield its customers from the worst of this.

“I believe we will do a very good job of this,” he says.

The firm's hedged currency position has prevented price rises in 2016, he adds.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Image source, Getty Images

The Committee on Climate Change has warned a new third runway at Heathrow Airport could increase aviation emissions by 15%, breaching government targets.

Under the Climate Change Act, the aviation sector is meant to freeze its emissions at 2005 levels by 2050 - but the government claimed it did not risk contravening this when it approved Heathrow expansion.

The committee, which was established to help enforce the act, has now asked to see how the government reached its conclusions - potentially creating further delays to an already highly-delayed process.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Image source, Getty Images

More than 500,000 people visited Argos' website in the first hour of Black Friday this morning, new chief executive John Rogers tells Today.

That’s up 50% compared with last year, he says.

The group expects to see a peak in demand between 7am and 10am today, as customers on their way to work use their mobiles to shop.

The group has also spread its Black Friday sale over 13 days this year – starting earlier this week and running through into next.

Shoppers appreciate being able to spread out their purchases over a longer period, Mr Rogers says. 

Emma Simpson
Business correspondent, BBC News

BBC Radio 5 live

Image source, Getty Images

The next Federal Reserve meeting is in mid-December. Richard Dunbar of Aberdeen Asset Management says investors think a US interest rate rise is a done deal.

"Investors have decided that Mr Trump will invest infrastructure, cut taxes, reduce regulation and engender some more growth in the US, and I think the Federal Reserve are looking at that and looking at the inflation that may be attached to that and say, well they were going to raise interest rates anyway, even if there'd been a Hilary [Clinton] presidency I suspect, and they've probably decided the reasons are still there." 

BBC Radio 5 live

Wake Up to Money is broadcasting this morning from the main Argos distribution centre in Burton-on-Trent.

Hundreds of staff are working through the night in the huge warehouse, packing up orders to send to Argos shops.

Robots move up and down giant aisles of blue boxes, them out and putting the boxes onto conveyer belts, and that's when the people get involved, picking and packing from these blue boxes to send to the shops.

Ivan Mazour, chief executive of marketing consultancy Ometria, says the event has grown to a week-long event and that "social norms" have shifted from post-Christmas to pre-Christmas sales.

Image source, AFP

Japan's stocks have spent much of the day in positive territory despite an official report that showed consumer prices fell in October for the eighth month in a row.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 was up 0.77% to 18,473.94 points, boosted in part by a weaker yen against the dollar.

The country’s core consumer price index declined 0.4% from a year earlier, putting the Bank of Japan's target of more than 2% core inflation further out of reach.

Japan has battled deflation and low economic growth for many years. The core number strips out fresh food, but includes oil.

Another measure of inflation released on Friday, the headline consumer price index, rose by 0.1% year on year in October – a result analysts said may have given the BOJ some reason for celebration. The figure is Japan’s standard and includes a wider coverage of prices.The inflation target is 2%.

By late afternoon the Nikkei was flat at 0.08% to 18,348.34 points.

Image source, Reuters

Black Friday is now one of the UK's busiest shopping days.

Retailers offer up a dizzying array of special offers and big discounts, with more deals added online on Cyber Monday.

But how can you spot a genuine bargain?

Here the BBC shares its tips for the sales. 

Image source, CNH Industrial

In the not-too-distant future, our fields could be tilled, sown, tended and harvested entirely by fleets of co-operating autonomous machines by land and air.

And they'll be working both day and night.

Driverless tractors that can follow pre-programmed routes are already being deployed at large farms around the world.

Drones are buzzing over fields assessing crop health and soil conditions. Ground sensors are monitoring the amount of water and nutrients in the soil, triggering irrigation and fertiliser applications.

Read more.