Is on the road to recovery. Joining me now is kathleen brooks, Research Director at the stockbrokers xtb. No great surprise the bank didnt decide to make a move on rates. The forecast is still later in the year but it is interesting when we look at how those members of the mpc voted, we get a sense of what could happen next. Voted, we get a sense of what could happen next happen next. Absolutely, the two members that happen next. Absolutely, the two members that voted happen next. Absolutely, the two members that voted for happen next. Absolutely, the two members that voted for a happen next. Absolutely, the two members that voted for a hike i happen next. Absolutely, the two | members that voted for a hike last month and for the last five months before all the other members, or most of the other members, were voting to remain on hold, they moved to the other side so they are no longer looking for rate hikes, so that has made the path to cuts much easier on the market has made a huge shift in a week. A week ago they were only expecting two cuts from the Bank Of England, now they are expecting three and thats a double whammy, lower than expected inflation that we saw yesterday and that split in the Bank Of England so no members of the mpc voting for rate hikes any more, i think that has had a big impact on expectations and opens the door rate cuts. Is and opens the door rate cuts. Is there a danger that markets are a little bit out of step with the may be more cautious tone weve seen from the governor of the Bank Of England . Unlike in the United States for the European Central bank, he has been careful not to let expectation get out of hand. Yes, and there is expectation get out of hand. Yes, and there is a expectation get out of hand. Yes, and there is a notable expectation get out of hand. 1a and there is a notable difference in the tone that Andrew Bailey has been using in recent months compared to the fed and Christine Lagarde have been doing, but i think there was a bit of a shift in tone today and in some of his recent speeches. Whilst he said the Bank Of England was not ready to cut rates yet, he did say there was progress made in inflation and the fact those two voters voted to keep Interest Rates on hold, even the most hawkish members of the Bank Of England and acknowledging that there has been some gains in the war against inflation so the Bank Of England really is just the latest in a line of Central Banks to say weve got inflation but we are winning the war. It got inflation but we are winning the war. ,. ,. , war. It is worth underlining that whatever the war. It is worth underlining that whatever the bank war. It is worth underlining that whatever the bank of war. It is worth underlining that whatever the Bank Of England l war. It is worth underlining that i whatever the Bank Of England may war. It is worth underlining that whatever the Bank Of England may do today, it will take quite a while for us to all feel it in our pockets so they have gone about this calculated gamble, act now based on what may happen in the future. Absolutely and they were not pre commit to rate cuts and they are saying they are not going to cut rates until they get back to a certain level. They also say even if they were to cut rates at some point, the rates would still be restricted so i think we are not going to go back to what we were used to pre pandemic, Interest Rates are higher and here to stay and even if they do start cutting, injune or august at some point this year, its not going to be a lot of rate cuts, certainly this year. Certainly this year. Thank you, kathleen. Certainly this year. Thank you, kathleen, research certainly this year. Thank you, kathleen, Research Director i certainly this year. Thank you, kathleen, Research Director at| certainly this year. Thank you, i kathleen, Research Director at x certainly this year. Thank you, kathleen, Research Director at x tb. Lets turn our focus to the tech world and shares in the Social Media Platform reddit Start Trading On the New York Stock Exchange on thursday in its initial Public Offering or ipo. If you are not familiar with reddit, it hosts niche discussion groups, subreddits around 100,000 of them on everything from politics to pets, investing and hobbies. In the words of co founder and boss steve huffman, reddit topics range from the sublime to the ridiculous, the trivial to the existential. Around 73 Million People use it every day. So whats it worth . Reddit has priced its shares at 34 dollars, giving it a Stock Market Value of £61; billion at the start of trading. That could, of course, go up or down once shares start trading, but it is well below the 10 billion valuation given to reddit by investors back in 2021. And to put that in perspective, Social Media Giant Meta which owns facebook, instagram and whatsapp was worth 1. 2 trillion at the market close on wednesday. Michelle is in new york. Its fascinating that this website thats just a lot of people talking about a lot of stuff to be worth so much money. Lot of stuff to be worth so much mone. , ~ lot of stuff to be worth so much mone. ~ , money. Yeah, i think this is the first of the money. Yeah, i think this is the first of the initial money. Yeah, i think this is the first of the initial wave money. Yeah, i think this is the first of the initial wave of money. Yeah, i think this is the first of the initial wave of social| first of the initial wave of social Media Companies to come to market in a very long time, we havent seen anything like this since twitter or meta are some of the others, and thats why people are getting excited about this but there is a couple of things to Pay Attention to. On the one hand, this is a company thats yet to make a profit. The other thing is that the high Interest Rates, the environment we are currently in, its harder to raise money and thats why a lot of people are focusing attention on this, to see whether or not this is some kind of return to deal making on wall street. The other thing that people are talking about is that you may remember the game stop story we were talking about gamestop story, stocks that were very popular on social media and where people were investing for not necessarily financial reasons but emotional reasons driven by a frenzy on social media. This is one of those stocks that has that potential, it was something they cited on their listing with American Financial regulators so it will be interesting to see, given that users have been invited to own shares in this, what impact that has, that culture, how does that interact with wall street Going Forward . We dont yet know although it has priced, it hasnt started trading yet. Also although it has priced, it hasnt started trading yet. Although it has priced, it hasnt started trading yet. Also talk to me about regulation started trading yet. Also talk to me about regulation because started trading yet. Also talk to me about regulation because whenever started trading yet. Also talk to me. About regulation because whenever we talk about data and the value of the firm is really in that data, we were talking earlier in the programme about the fact that this is real chat, so for al, they will learn from these conversations and make those chat bots much more useful, but the regulators will be keeping a close eye on how that data is used. Thats the pitch to wall street, we dont make money yet but one where we could make money in the future is selling user data to companies that are working on al and Machine Learning language, they can learn from the kind of data harvested from their user. It is of some concern amongst the communities on reddit but regulators, who got the Federal Trade Commission saying they want to look into this, reddit is confident it hasnt broken any rules and so should be a problem but that definitely is an area where they think they can make money out of this platform Going Forward and at the moment, everyone is talking about al and how fast that Machine Learning, how we use language, how we think, how fast can you train computers on that, it relies on the sort of data that reddit is able to harvest. �. ,. , ,. , harvest. Another story you are kee in harvest. Another story you are keeping an harvest. Another story you are keeping an eye harvest. Another story you are keeping an eye on, harvest. Another story you are keeping an eye on, the harvest. Another story you are keeping an eye on, the do] i harvest. Another story you are | keeping an eye on, the d0] are keeping an eye on, the doj are holding a Press Conference relating to anti trust, want to be so far . That to anti trust, want to be so far . Git the top of the next hour, we are expecting a Press Conference. All we know is that there is an anti trust announcement, it has been widely trailed that under the Biden Administration there is going to be administration there is going to be a new anti trust case brought against apple. This apparently will accuse it of violating Anti Trust Laws by blocking rivals from accessing hardware and Software Features on its iphones. This has been talked about a lot and we will find out if it is happening but if it does, itll be the third time we have seen doj action of an anti trust nature against apple in the last decade or so. Staying in the uk, and a question affecting thousands of women born in the 19505 is should they be paid compensation after the State Pension Age was changed . An investigation by the parliamentary and Health Service 0mbudsman has said the government should do the right thing, but whilst it can recommend compensation, it cannot enforce it. The report suggests that in the sample cases it has seen . Women should receive compensation of between £1,000 and nearly £3,000. The 1995 pensions act raised the State Pension Age for women born on or after the 6th of april 1950, to bring it in line with mens. Lets speak to Jonathan Josephs whos following this for us. Just remind us who would be affected by this change. Just remind us who would be affected by this change by this change. There arent exact numbers but by this change. There arent exact numbers but we by this change. There arent exact numbers but we think by this change. There arent exact numbers but we think its by this change. There arent exact numbers but we think its around | by this change. There arent exact i numbers but we think its around 2. 6 million women that could be affected by this across the uk. Whats at the heart of this is a question that economists and government around the world are grappling with, which is how do we pay for an ageing society . The average age of populations around the world is increasing and thus governments are having to push up thus governments are having to push up the age at which people can get their pensions and that is what has driven these changes and caused this problem. Weve seen widescale approaches in france last year for instance so its definitely an Issue Thatis Instance so its definitely an issue that is affecting many countries because with fewer people in work and lower birth rates, there are fewer people to tax in terms of being able to raise the money to pay for these pensions. In the uk, the government laid out changes to address all of this in 1995 and there was a timetable of things being phased in but in 2010, the government, the conservative and liberal Democrat Coalition at the time led by david cameron, decided to accelerate those changes. It was a time in government finances were under particular pressure because of the Global Financial crisis and this was a way of perhaps saving even more money. The problem here is that those changes were not communicated properly, thats what the ombudsman has said in its report today and that meant that these women who had been affected were not able to plan their Financial Futures properly, something that has become even more acute in the last few years because of the increasing cost of living. The ombudsman has said in this report today they should be entitled to compensation because of this poor communication that affected them so much. I a, communication that affected them so much. G,. , much. The challenge for the ombudsman, much. The challenge for the ombudsman, the much. The challenge for the ombudsman, the on much. The challenge for the ombudsman, the on this much. The challenge for the l ombudsman, the on this man much. The challenge for the ombudsman, the on this man has much. The challenge for the ombudsman, the on this man has made this recommendation, it is not binding so how likely is it that these women will get this compensation . These women will get this comensation . , , g, � , compensation . The ombudsmans recommendations compensation . The ombudsmans recommendations are compensation . The ombudsmans recommendations are not compensation . The ombudsmans recommendations are not binding| compensation . The ombudsmans i recommendations are not binding but they say they are taking the step of pushing this to parliament so that parliament can act on all of this because they say that the department for work and pensions, the uk Government Department involved in this, has said it wont cooperate, it doesnt want to pay out this money, but the women are hopeful, they are pushing for Compensation Payments for around £10,000 each, which is about 12, 13,000 if you prefer but having looked at how many people could be affected, that could be a bell for the government. If they get what the ombudsman is saying, between 1,000 and 3,000, if you go to the £3000, you are looking at a Compensation Bill of around £7. 7 billion or 10 billion which is money the government can scarcely afford given that the finances are under strain at the moment although this is an Election Year so who knows if they will find the money down the back of the sofa but we havent had a proper government response just yet. Response ust yet. Those are the Business Response just yet. Those are the business headlines, response just yet. Those are the business headlines, you response just yet. Those are the business headlines, you are i business headlines, you are up to date. We will see you soon, bye bye. Hello from the bbc sport centre. Its a Big Night For Wales later, they face finland at the Cardiff City Stadium in their euro 2024 qualifying play off Semifinal Stop the winner will face poland or estonia next tuesday, to decide who makes it to germany this summer. Having failed to qualify for a major tournament between 1958 and 2016, wales are aiming to reach their third successive euros and the pressure of Play Off Football is nothing new for the welsh who memorably beat austria and ukraine in 2022 en route to qualifying for their first world cup in 2022 en route to qualifying for Theirfirst World Cup in in 2022 en route to qualifying for their first world cup in years. In 2022 en route to qualifying for Theirfirst World Cup in years. They must replicate those performances and it is said they are moving in the right direction. Irate and it is said they are moving in the right direction. And it is said they are moving in the right direction. We qualified in 2016 and go the right direction. We qualified in 2016 and go to the right direction. We qualified in 2016 and go to the the right direction. We qualified in 2016 and go to the semifinals i the right direction. We qualified in 2016 and go to the semifinals but| 2016 and go to the semifinals but the success of that has enabled us to invest the money and give us the opportunity to qualify for the next euros which is what we did. Again, a work in progress, we qualified against all the odds for the world cup, disappointing when we got there but it is a stepping stones, we have gone forward two, back one from our performances in the world cup we have learned from that. White also hoping for a spot at the world cup is ukraine who Play Bosnia And Herzegovina later. They missed out on automatic qualification on Goal Difference to italy, drawing 00 Goal Difference to italy, drawing 0 0 in theirfinal