Oil Prices In Steep Decline

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The price of oil is falling sharply, marking the longest stretch of daily declines in the US crude price since 1984. The benchmark crude price is just over $70 at the moment, and this has serious implications for big economies like Russia and Saudi Arabia who are dependent on oil revenues. On top of that, China's seemingly unquenchable demand for energy now seems to be tailing off. Jim Burkhard, vice president at IHS Market, gives his view. With a change in government looming for Brazil, and the far-right President-elect Jair Bolsonaro bringing in a new cabinet from January, current finance minister Eduardo Guardia joins the show to reflect on his government’s tenure, and what he sees the future holding for the country’s imperilled economy. In the USA it costs as much as 2.4 cents to mint every penny. And governments across the world have had to dilute the copper-content of their small change to stop people melting them down for their commodity value. The BBC’s Howard Mustoe has gone out in search of why coppers could be in for a change. We’ll also have a wrap-up of the week with Philip Georgiadis, City reporter at the Wall Street Journal, and Patricia O'Connell, the former editor of Bloomberg Businessweek. And finally, the oft-used but little-examined emoji is celebrating its tenth birthday. Jeremy Burge, who founded the website Emojipedia, joins to discuss the semiotic value and future evolution of the communication form. All through the show we’ll be joined by Colin Peacock, New Zealand correspondent for Media Watch.