Terminal 5 is used by British Airways and you might remember their IT meltdown last month.

BBC Breakfast

The days of bringing back a massive mobile bill from a european holiday should now be over. From today roaming charges are being dropped across the EU. The boss of mobile network Three Dave Dyson tells BBC Breakfast why he welcomes the industry change.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Image source, Getty Images

Chancellor Philip Hammond will give the annual Mansion House speech tonight about the state of the economy and could signal a softer approach to Brexit by the government.

Many thought Theresa May was going to fire him, but after she lost her majority in the commons his hand has been strengthened, says BBC economics editor Kamal Ahmed.

"When it comes to Brexit I think he would want to put jobs and the economy first, rather than issues about taking back control and looking to do other trade deals around the world. The question is how far he goes tonight."

He adds: "He will not want to seem incendiary, or openly at odds with the weakened prime minister, but I think his words are likely to signal a softer approach."

BBC reporter Simon Jones tweets:

There's a bit more information here, external.

Image source, Getty Images

Chinese regulators have penalised Emirates for two safety incidents that both took place over the western region of Xinjing.

The Gulf carrier was fined 29,000 yuan ($4,270; £3,350) and banned from adding new destinations or aircraft in China for six months.

According to China's Civil Aviation Administration (CAAC), Emirates' pilots were found to have flown an aircraft at the wrong altitude in April and temporarily lost contact with air traffic control in May.

Emirates did not immediately respond when contacted for comment.

Image source, Majestic Wine

Majestic Wine has reported, external an annual profit before tax of £12.9m, down from £15m in 2016.

However, the company's chief executive Rowan Gormley said: "Operationally, we are through the most risky and cost intensive phase of our transformation plan."

The company reaffirmed its sales and profit targets and said it was "confident" about the medium-term outlook.

Interestingly, Majestic also said it had a "better paid and rewarded workforce".

The company also announced that chairman Phil Wrigley will step down in August, with Gregg Hodder taking over.

BBC Breakfast

Image source, Three

The scrapping of mobile roaming charges is generally being welcomed by travellers across the EU.

But chief executive of mobile operator Three, Dave Dyson, has told BBC Breakfast that there remains some concerns over exactly how far the new rules stretch.

He said: "There are some questions being raised. Around the periphery you’ve got countries like Norway that aren’t full EU members, so, there’s a little bit of confusion in terms of what’s included and what’s not included."

Mr Dyson's concerns had been highlighted by Which? earlier in the week, warning phone users to watch out for what is and isn't included in the rules.

There's already been some controversy, with networks upping the prices in non-EU areas like the Channel Islands and Monaco.

Leisha Chi
Business reporter in Singapore

Image source, Getty Images

Asia shares have been falling.

In Hong Kong the Hang Seng fell 1% with financial, property and energy stocks taking the biggest hits.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index fell 0.15% to close at 19,854.20 and South Korea's Kospi shed 0.5% to 2,361.71 points.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 slumped 1.2% to 5,763.30 despite positive data showing the jobless rate fell to its lowest level in four years.

Image source, Youtube

Sofa firm DFS has blamed uncertainty over the general election and the economy for a drop in footfall at its stores.

As a result it said its earnings before interest and tax would be lower expected for the full year, in the range of £82m-£87m.

In a statement, external it said: "The trading environment has however recently weakened beyond our expectation, with significant declines in store footfall leading to a material reduction in customer orders."

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Image source, Getty Images

Mobile roaming charges end across the EU today.

The BBC's Joe Miller says mobile phone operators will be quietly irritated, as roaming was a lucrative income stream in the past.

But the tourism industry will be overjoyed. It means holidaymakers can access GPS maps, data and make calls abroad for as much as it would cost at home.

Image source, Getty Images

One of the Fed’s biggest challenges will be extracting itself from its huge asset repurchase programme – known as quantitative easing – which it brought in after the financial crisis to support the economy.

The US central bank says it wants to start winding down the programme from September.

Kully Samra, a managing director at Charles Schwab, says the objective now is to make the process as event-free as possible so as not to spook markets.

“They want this to be like watching paint drying. It has to be a very orderly and boring process.”

Andrew Sentance was a member of the panel that sets interest rates at the Bank of England.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Image source, Getty Images

The US has raised its interest rate to the highest level since 2008 - 1.25% - and it looks like there will be another rise before Christmas

Kully Samra, a managing director at Charles Schwab, says it reflects the ongoing strength of the US economy but also desire to normalise monetary policy.

“If another financial crisis hits they want to be able to deal with it and with very low interest rates and a large balance sheet it becomes very hard to deal with.”

The only concern is that inflation remains tepid, but the Fed believes that will work itself out as wage growth accelerates.

Leisha Chi
Business reporter in Singapore

Image source, Getty Images

Toshiba is looking to sell its prized computer chip unit to raise billions of dollars in much-needed cash to stay afloat.

The conglomerate is expected to announce its preferred bidder today. According to reports, US chipmaker Broadcom and a government-led group are leading the pack.

But it looks like Toshiba's joint venture partner Western Digital is not going to let that happen without a fight.

It has sought a court injunction to prevent Toshiba from selling the NAND semiconductor business without their consent.

Earlier this week, Western Digital is said to have raised its offer to at least $18bn in a last ditch effort to buy the division, even though there are concerns a purchase by them would face scrutiny by competition regulators.

Toshiba shares fell as much as 6% in Tokyo on Thursday.

BBC Radio 5 live

At 09:30 we get official UK figures on retail sales.

"The retail sales numbers have a life of their own. Two months ago they were down, last month they were up. It's going to be watched very closely and it's very had to predict, " said Mouhammed Choukeir, chief investment officer at Kleinwort Benson.

"But the signs we've seen from other retailers reporting, say it's a challenging market out there, so it's likely to be a softer set of data."

Mr Choukeir says that's partly because inflation is outstripping wage growth, so cutting how much consumers have to spend.

Image source, Majestic Wines

In company news, it's a pretty quiet one today (especially for a Thursday - the City's result's day of choice).

The big news is expected out of Majestic Wines, with its full year results due at 7:00. Investors will want to see how the business is faring after revealing a half-year loss of £4.4m.

Chief executive Rowan Gormley is set to also say how a new entry-level wine is selling and what impact Brexit might have on the business.

Elsewhere, soap specialists PZ Cussons - makers of Imperial Leather soap - has a trading update, and engineering giant WS Atkins also has its full year results.

BBC Radio 5 live

The Bank of England announces its latest interest rate decision at 12:00. Rates are expected to remain at the record low of 0.25%.

Analysts don't think a move higher is likely in the near future.

"Although inflation is... at 2.9%, we saw in 2011 inflation actually hit almost 4% and the Bank of England did nothing about it, because the bigger focus is on growth," said Mouhammed Choukeir, chief investment officer at Kleinwort Benson.

"And clearly with uncertainty around how Brexit is going to pan out, the Bank of England is concerned that we're going to see a slowdown in growth.So they're likely to keep rates lower for longer," he said.

Ben Morris
Business reporter

Welcome to Thursday's Business Live page.

We should get some clues about the future course of UK interest rates today, when policy makers meet at the Bank of England.

Interest rates are expected to stay on hold, despite inflation running at 2.9% - well above its target.

On Wednesday the US Federal Reserve, as expected, did raise interest rates.

And the owner of British Airways holds its annual general meeting later today. Earlier this month the airline had an embarrassing collapse of its computer system, we'll see if there's any fallout from that.