As Obama Waves Goodbye, Confirmation of Team Trump Begins

Business Matters

In ten days, President Obama will leave the White House. But as the current President gives his farewell speech in his home town of Chicago, key players from the team assembled by the man set to replace Mr Obama in just over a week, President elect Donald Trump, are being confirmed to their cabinet posts in Washington. And many eyes will be on Mr Trump;s pick as Secretary of State, the former oil boss, Ex ExxonMobil chief executive Rex Tillerson. Jordan Fabian, White House Correspondent for The Hill tells us why.

A lack of investment spending in emerging markets is strangling economic growth in those countries. That's the warning from the World Bank in its annual global forecast. The report's lead author, Franziska Ohnsorge, talks to us about that, China, and trying to get a read on the Trump administration.

It's the swankiest week of schmoozing and high powered financial dealing of the year, and all against the backdrop of the snowy Swiss Alps. But why is the World Economic Forum in Davos such a pull for the World's business elite? Sandra Navidi - author of a new book called Superhubs: How the Financial Elite & Their Networks Rule Our World is here to tell us.

And, don't fancy becoming an air force pilot but still fancy travelling faster than the speed of sound? The answer used to be buy a ticket for Concorde, until the transatlantic supersonic plane landed for the final time in 2003. But could a very high speed return to supersonic passenger travel be on the horizon, the BBC's Business Correspondent Theo Leggett has been taking a look.

To pilot us through the hour, the BBC's Fergus Nicoll is joined from Los Angeles by Raghu Manavalan, a broadcaster at Marketplace and from Singapore by Nisid Hajari, Asia Editor for Bloomberg View.

(Picture: President Barack Obama delivers a farewell speech to the nation in Chicago, Illinois. Credit: Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)