Business live: 31 March 2015

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Is there a right way of dealing with mental health issues in the workplace? Presenter Manuela Saragosa speaks to Alastair Campbell on Business Daily about how he managed his depression while he worked as a chief spokesman for the former British prime minister, Tony Blair.

Katy WatsonCopyright: Katy Watson

For those who can't get divorced quick enough #HappyMarriage #Mexico

MovadoCopyright: Movado

Shares in luxury watchmaker Movado have jumped almost 15% after the firm posted strong fourth quarter results. But the boss of the New Jersey-based company warned that the next fiscal year would bring a "slow growth retail environment".

President Obama promises UN that US will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 28% over next decade

Back in London, the FTSE 100 closed down 1.72% at 6773.04, dragged lower by mining and tobacco firms. One bright spot was Kingfisher - shares rose by more than 4% after it announced plans to revamp the business.

BBCCopyright: BBC

Detroit is fighting "blight" - unsightly or dilapidated buildings that ruin the look of the city. Lawyers have taken "dozens of property owners to court in recent months" reports Matt Helms of the Detroit Free Press, "to get them to either fix up or demolish their buildings".

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

"In early 2013, JP Morgan's outspoken chief Jamie Dimon trolled Senator Elizabeth Warren when he told her to 'hit' him with a fine because his bank could 'afford it'," writes Julia La Roche over at Business Insider. Senator Warren campaigns for heavier financial regulation in the US, and is seen by some as a possible presidential candidate.

CEO of Eurostar is on Business Live tomorrow. Anything you want to ask? #BBCBizLive 0830BST @BBCWorld

APCopyright: AP

Indiana's Governor Pence seems to have caved to pressure from business leaders. At a press conference in Indianapolis, he announced that he wanted legislation on his desk "before the end of this week" that will "make it clear that this law does not give businesses a right to deny services to anyone".

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

The European Council has approved a fresh tranche of loans to Ukraine, totalling €1.8bn. "The aim is to support economic stabilisation of the country and a substantive reform agenda," says the Council. The beleaguered state may have another benefactor - George Soros has indicated that he may be prepared to invest $1bn, as long as there are "concrete investment ideas".

HP sues Mike Lynch and Sushovan Hussain in London for $5.1bn over alleged fraud while executives at Autonomy

Some good news for the US economy. Consumer confidence improved in March, according to a regular survey. Americans are feeling good about their employment and income prospects, says Lynn Franco, a director at the Conference Board, the organisation behind the data.

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

"Our employees must not feel unwelcome in the place where they work and live," wrote nine chief executives from the US state of Indiana to Governor Mike Pence. The open letter was the latest in a series of protests by business leaders and activists against a new "religious freedom" law, which they argue could allow for discrimination against gays and lesbians. The Governor will address the issue in a press conference at 16:00 GMT.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

blogs: "Jay-Z has garnered some 15 artists as co-owners of Tidal, a music streaming business that is based on his recent acquisition of Swedish Aspiro for $56m (£38m). He's offering stock and cash in exchange for their promotion of Tidal."

The main US markets have opened lower this morning.

• The Dow Jones is down 0.4% to 17,906.05
• The S&P 500 is also down 0.4%, to 2,077.99
• The tech-heavy Nasdaq is down 0.4% to 4,926.52

Former Autonomy bosses to sue HP over alleged smear campaign - ex CEO Mike Lynch seeking more than £100m damages

ThinkstockCopyright: Thinkstock

Of the 20 cities measured by the Case-Shiller index, Denver (pictured) saw the strongest rise in house prices. Houses in the Colorado capital are 8.4% dearer than the same time last year. Washington DC saw the smallest rise - up just 1.3%.

How much better off are British households compared with May 2010, after taxes, benefits, interest and inflation? Around 70p per week

A key measure of the US housing market, known as the Case-Shiller index, shows prices rose by 4.6% in January, when compared with the same period last year. There is a lack of supply, as fewer people put their homes on the market. The Case-Shiller index covers roughly half of US homes, across 20 cities.

That's all from the early team in London, thanks to Tom and Ben. I'm Joe Miller in New York, and will be taking you through to 18:00 BST.

BBCCopyright: BBC

New York business reporter Michelle Fleury says that oil prices are likely to be volatile while negotiations continue over Iran's nuclear programme. There is the prospect of significant supplies of Iranian oil returning if a deal can be struck, she says. Brent Crude is down 2.2% at $55.05 a barrel so far today.

BBCCopyright: BBC

"The DIY market is looking rather good," says BBC Business Editor, Kamal Ahmed. People are tending to do up their houses rather than moving because housing has become so expensive, he points out. So why is Kingfisher shutting B&Q stores? In the 1990s it expanded into massive out-of-town stores and there are now too many of them, says Kamal.

BBCCopyright: BBC

Labour leader Ed Milband says that living standards have fallen, the Chancellor says they are higher than when the coalition took over. Who is right? The BBC's statistics boffin, Anthony Reuben has been analysing figures. (Is there a clear cut answer? Of course not.)

BBCCopyright: BBC

The FTSE 100 share has turned lower, after a drop by tobacco companies Imperial Tobacco Group and British American Tobacco. The sector was hampered by concern that a proposed merger of US peers Reynolds and Lorillard might fall through. Imperial is set to acquire assets from Reynolds if the deal happens, while BAT has a stake in Reynolds. But the FTSE 100 was supported by a rise in Kingfisher, which is to close about 60 stores in the while returning £200m during 2015-16.

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

Dairy farmers have parked their tractors in downtown Brussels today to protest over the ending of milk quotas. One farmer told Reuters that "we're really scared that production is going to explode and we won't be able to pay our costs anymore.'' Quotas were introduced 30 years ago amid overproduction which caused milk lakes and butter mountains.

Harman InternationalCopyright: Harman International

US-based Harman International is buying the car stereo business of Bang & Olufsen, the Danish purveyor of upmarket music equipment. Bang & Olufsen Automotive makes sound systems for luxury car makers including Audi, Aston Martin and Mercedes-Benz. Harman is paying $168m (£114m) for the business. Bang & Olufsen shares jumped 40% on the news.

BBCCopyright: BBC

Will it be a tech election? Despite the @Marthalanefox #DimblebyLecture probably not

BBCCopyright: BBC

BBC Turkey correspondent Mark Lowen says there has been widespread disruption to all sorts of services in Turkey, including power plants, shopping malls, public transport, traffic lights, and internet connections, after a massive power cut. "Turkey is sporadically hit by power cuts in some areas, but this kind of nationwide outage is really unprecedented. Locals say they don't remember it in a generation."

Greece's talks with international creditors have not yet reached a deal, but are expected to continue, the European Commission said on Tuesday. "The constructive talks are ongoing since Friday, but we are not there yet, so this is why the talks should continue," said Commission spokeswoman Mina Andreeva.

BBCCopyright: BBC

Mansur Liman, head of the BBC's Hausa service, says there has been a disturbance at the count for Nigeria's elections. As the chairman of the electoral commission, Attahiru Jega, started announcing some of the results, ruling party (PDP) representative Godswill Peter Orubebe "came onto the stage and started a passionate protest, accusing the chairman of being biased" in favour of the opposition party, the APC. Mr Jega has dismissed the complaints.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Talks between officials from Greece and its EU and IMF creditors in Brussels have ended without a deal on the country's reform plans, but may continue next week, three Greek government officials have said. "The Brussels Group process has been concluded," one of the government officials said. "Significant steps of progress were made. The technical teams will continue to collect data in Athens."

PACopyright: PA

UK brewer and pub group Marston's has agreed to buy the beer division of north west England-based Thwaites for £25.1m. Marston's, which has around 1,700 pubs and also brews ales such as Hobgoblin, said the acquisition included a 150 strong workforce and Thwaites' two leading premium ales, Wainwright and Lancaster Bomber.

APCopyright: AP

Insurers for the airline Lufthansa are setting aside $300m (£203m) to pay for costs related to last week's crash of a Germanwings jet in the French Alps, according to reports. Last week Lufthansa offered relatives of the victims at least 50,000 euros (£36,300) per passenger. Those payments would not be part of any future compensation payment.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Cities and provinces across Turkey have been hit by a serious power cut. In Istanbul parts of the subway system were closed and shopping centres had no lighting. Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said: "Whether or not terrorism is a high possibility or a low one I can't say at this stage. I can't say either whether it is a cyber attack." Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said problems with transmission lines were the most likely cause of the failure.

#Rangers auditors have quit: 6mth loss comes with 'going concern' warning: deadline for NomAd this week, "currently investigating options"

The latest data on euro-zone inflation and unemployment do little to diminish the danger of a prolonged period of deflation in the currency union. The core inflation rate, which excludes food and energy, fell from +0.7% to +0.6%, equalling its record low. The euro-zone economy remains in a very fragile state, with high unemployment and very weak price pressures.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

So what to make of Tidal, the new music streaming service owned by musicians. "It was quite a pretentious launch," Matt Everitt, BBC music journalist said on BBC World TV. In its favour "there are going to be exclusives," he said. However, he points out that those exclusives are likely to get pirated "within seconds".

It is reasonable to say living standards on average back to where they were in May 2010, but young much worse off, while older better off

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Consumer prices across the eurozone fell by 0.1% in March. That's an improvement on February's 0.3% decline in prices, which raised fears of a damaging bout of deflation. The main component weighing on prices was lower energy costs. Unemployment figures are also out today. They show that the eurozone jobless rate fell to 11.3% in February from 11.4% in January. Earlier Germany's unemployment rate fell to a record low of 6.4% in March.

Mr Osborne said that by the end of 2015, Real Household Disposable Income per head would be above the levels it had been in 2010. Well, the good news for him is that the figures for the last three months of 2014 were just a touch above the figures for the second three months of 2010 (which was when the election was). But they're still below the levels they were in the previous four quarters. The Reality Check team will be looking at the limitations of this indicator and what some of the other standard of living indicators say during the day.

ONSCopyright: ONS

Sorry to swamp you with data, but the ONS has some interesting figures on economic well-being. Real household disposable income per head (which is the Chancellor's preferred measure of well-being and the black line in the chart above) increased 1.9% in the fourth quarter, compared with the same period in 2013. But for the whole of last year, the measure was little changed from 2013. It is also 2.2% above its pre-economic downturn level. Do you feel better off? Email bizlivepage@bbc.co.uk.

PACopyright: PA

For 2014 as a whole, the UK economy grew 2.8%, revised up from a previous estimate of 2.6%, and the biggest expansion since 2006.

German unemployment rate falls to new record low 6.4% vs Italy's unemployment rate rising to 12.7% #eurocrisis

Office for National StatisticsCopyright: Office for National Statistics

Revised UK Q4 GDP out at 9.30am from @ONS. Could we see an upward revision driven by buoyant consumer spending?

BBCCopyright: BBC

Kingfisher is having another strong day on the stock market. Shares are up 4.7% after it announced the closure of 60 B&Q stores. Imperial Tobacco is down 2.1% and British American Tobacco is down 1.3%. That's after a report found that one-in-five teenagers had accessed e-cigarettes.

• The FTSE 100 is trading flat after early gains

BBCCopyright: BBC

Growth is looking "precarious" says risk analyst Manji Cheto of Teneo Holdings on Business Live about Nigeria's economy. "If we do get a peaceful post-election period, investors will be quite happy," she says. A new government will have to deal with the security challenge from Boko Haram in the north, falling revenues from oil and tackle corruption, she said.

B&Q have confirmed six stores that are earmarked for closure: Southampton; Dundee; Mansfield, Baums Lane; Birmingham, Stetchford Road; Greater Manchester, Hyde; Barnsley.

B&Q are still in the process of telling staff in other stores about closure plans.

More from the newspapers. The Wall Street Journal reports that Ethiopia has become a magnet for westerns investors, with private equity firm KKR buying a rose farming business and Blackstone planning a big investment. The Times speculates over who might be the next head of the CBI. Katja Hall the current deputy director-general appears to be the front runner.

BBCCopyright: BBC

The Times notes that the departure of Rory Cullinan from RBS comes just a month after it emerged that he had been sending social media messages to his daughter complaining of boredom during board meetings. But both the Times and Financial Times say he left the job as boss of the investment bank due to differences over strategy. The Guardian says that Britons are more optimistic about the economy than at any time in almost 13 years.

AFPCopyright: AFP

Heineken is refreshing its management team. Chris Barrow, the firm's chief strategy officer, has decided to leave in July. Global chief marketing officer Alexis Nasard will leave in June, and Siep Hiemstra, president of Heineken's Africa Middle East operation, will retire in August. The moves are part of a broader reorganisation.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Italian online fashion retailer Yoox has confirmed a merger with London-based rival Net-a-Porter. The all-share merger will create a group with combined 2014 net revenues of €1.3bn (£950m), the companies said.

The Prime Minister believes that the Conservatives would find the £8bn that NHS chief executive Simon Stevens says is needed by the NHS. The money would come from extra spending and efficiencies, Prime Minister Cameron tells Today.

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

Prime Minister David Cameron is on the Today programme. He is asked about his accusation that working households would pay £3,000 more a year in taxes under Labour. The Institute for Fiscal Studies says it's more like £100, points out presenter Sarah Montague. "If Labour want to replace those figures, they can do so," says the Prime Minister and insists that Labour would raise taxes.

BBCCopyright: BBC

tweets: On #BBCBizLive: Nigeria, one of world's fastest growing economies, goes to the polls & Diageo boss. 0730GMT @BBCWorld

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

The coalition government has "done well" by raising £5bn from tackling tax avoidance in the last parliament. However, George Bull, a senior tax partner at Baker Tilly, is not confident that can be achieved again - as promised by Chancellor Osborne. Small and medium sized firms can expect to be targeted as tax avoiders.

AFPCopyright: AFP

Japanese carmaker Honda is to pump £200m into its Swindon plant, and says the city will become the production hub for its next Civic five door model. The firm has spent £2.2bn since 1985 in the UK, including the latest investment it says.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

The boss of B&Q's UK and Ireland business, Kevin O'Byrne, is to step down on 15 May, following news that the firm is shutting around 60 stores. In a statement, Mr O'Byrne said: "The team at B&Q have created a stronger business over the last few years and I wish them, and all of Kingfisher, great success in the coming years."

Kingfisher also reported a 15% fall in pre-tax profit to £644m for the year to 31 January. It said the results reflected an "improving" UK market but weakness in Europe, particularly in France. Kingfisher announced yesterday that it had abandoned its attempt to buy French DIY chain Mr Bricolage.

APCopyright: AP

It's just what you have always wanted - a Payment Systems Regulator. The new watchdog starts work tomorrow and will oversee the system of payment processing. That's cash machines, contactless card payments and direct debt transactions. Hannah Nixon, managing director of the Payment Systems Regulator tells Today that she wants the systems to be more competitive and innovative.

AFPCopyright: AFP

Profits are up by almost a third at China's Huawei, the world's second biggest maker of kit for the telecoms industry. It made 27.9bn yuan (£3bn) for 2014. Global adoption of fourth-generation (4G) mobile technology boosted sales.

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

If a deal is reached over Iran's nuclear programme with six world powers, then Iranian oil could return to the global markets. "The potential is huge," says Amrita Sen, chief oil analyst at Energy Aspects. Iran says it could add an extra one million barrels per day. But Ms Sen is sceptical, because Iran's fields need maintenance. Iranian oil is cheap to produce, she says.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Madonna, Beyonce, Kanye West and 13 other performers, including Daft Punk (pictured) have invested in the music and video service Tidal. The service launched last October, but was recently bought by rapper Jay Z. The plan is to compete with music streaming services like Spotify.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

The owner of B&Q, Kingfisher, is expected to report profits down by about 8%, says Richard Hunter, head of equities at Hargreaves Lansdown. "Store closures are expected," he says. Look out for between 40 and 60 store closures out of 460 in Europe.

BBCCopyright: BBC

The only privatised NHS hospital, Hinchingbrooke, failed to anticipate demand for services, Joe Stringer, a partner in Health Advisory Services for accountancy firm EY, tells Wake Up to Money. "The biggest issue is the sheer demand coming through the front door of every hospital," he says. Hinchingbrooke Hospital reverts to NHS management today.

Hello there. It should be an interesting morning, with DIY chain Kingfisher expected to have weak results, and official figures out about UK economic well-being.