inflation gauge that held good news for american consumers and fed showing inflation cooling in the month of may, slightly, after a few hot readouts in the few first months of the year. at 3.3% the yearly price increase was lower—than—expected and slower than the increase we saw in april. the data actually showed no change month to month from april to may. the core inflation rate which excludes volatile food and energy prices cooled as well. that is the kind of news federal reserve officials are looking for. but it was not enough to warrant an interest rate cut. we it was not enough to warrant an interest rate cut.— interest rate cut. we have seen the report _ interest rate cut. we have seen the report today _ interest rate cut. we have seen the report today as _ interest rate cut. we have seen the report today as progress i the report today as progress and as— the report today as progress and as building confidence, but we do — and as building confidence, but we do not — and as building confidence, but we do not see ourselves as having _ we do not see ourselves as having the confidence that would _ having the confidence that would warrant beginning to loosen— would warrant beginning to loosen policy at this time. fed held steady — loosen policy at this time. fer. held steady making no loosen policy at this time. f2c held steady making no change the current benchmark rate standing at 5.25 and 5.5% a more than two decade high officials have consistently said they want to see inflation coming down steadily to the 2.5% target. this marks seven straight meetings without cutting interest rates. the summary of economic productions known as the dock clock shows members of the fed are projecting one interest rate cut before the end of the year. there are only four meetings left this year which leaves questions about whether the fed will lower interest rates in september, the last chance before the us election, or it could cut in november or december at the tail end of this year. december at the tail end of this year-— december at the tail end of this ear. , , this year. putting the numbers in persnective _ this year. putting the numbers in perspective for _ this year. putting the numbers in perspective for us _ this year. putting the numbers in perspective for us there. - hamish preston is head of us equities at index provider s&p dowjones indices and told me how the two sets of data are affecting markets. so i think if we look today, us equities gained and the s&p 500 gained and closed at an all time high, the 28th all—time high closing price level for the index so far this year. now, i think if we look at today's market movements, contributing to that was the lower than expected cpi data. and in the afternoon we actually saw, i think, muted reaction to the us federal reserve's policy announcement, largely because the market had expected ahead of the meeting for rates to remain unchanged. you said i think investors had focused more on the guidance from the fed and the dot plot to glean insights and form expectations around the future path of interest rates. and actually, i think this has been a broader trend over the past couple of years where investors have looked at data points from the macroeconomic to remarks from the fed to help them glean insights on the future path of interest rates. whether, of course, the expectations come to fruition. we'll have to wait and see. but i said muted reaction to the fed announcement itself. fair enough. give us also a sense of where the us equities markets stand now compared to the pandemic period. so i think what's interesting, if we look over the past four years or so, at various points in time, the largest companies in the market have led the way. most recently, that's been driven by the artificial intelligence trend, with investors anticipating maybe the application of ai stands to benefit certain companies compared to others. of course, four or five years ago around the pandemic, the largest companies or some of them benefited from that work from home, communicate online, shop online environment we found ourselves in. so in some respects it's similar, but obviously different narratives driving. eight former employees of elon musk�*s rocket company spacex are suing the billionaire and the firm. the engineers say they were illegally fired for raising concerns about gender discrimination and sexual harassment. the lawsuit was filed in los angeles. spacex has denied any wrongdoing. the g7 meeting is set to start in a few hours. joe biden arriving in italy ahead of the world's must develop democracy. expected to speak out against russian forts were of ukraine and increasing... the european commission says it will impose duties of up to 38 percent on electric cars imported from china. it comes less than a month after the us announced plans to quadruple duties for chinese evs to 100%. both the eu and us complained that china was flooding the market with heavily subsidised vehicles. industry expert ray wang, and the founder, chairman and principal analyst of silicon valley based constellation research, a research and advisory firm. the biggest impact is really thinking about what's going to happen to european jobs as well as what's happening to the market for european evs. what's china is doing with these tariffs is basically china's dumping on the europeans and they're dumping on the americans in terms of car manufacturing because heavily subsidised batteries, heavily subsidised plants. and that's really what europeans are worried about. but the challenge is actually the european manufacturers have a lot of capacity in china. and so we have a situation where it's going to be an interesting balance of trade. over 20% of ev sales in europe were actually a chinese origin, and europe is basically in this market where they're trying to protect their auto exports, but they're also manufacturing and exporting in china with manufacturing in china operations. so it's going to be an interesting balance of trade argument. is it going to be what we call protecting european jobs versus potential china retaliation? beijing said that it will take measures to safeguard its interests. what kind of retaliation do you think we can expect? well, the challenge here is really what china's going to do with european production in china. will they put tariffs there? will it make it harder for them to do business in china? will they actually make it more expensive for them to acquire any of the ev technologies that they need or battery technologies or even the rare earth metals? so those are all up in the air. but china is in a situation where it's trying to export its way out of the recession and the world leaders all have caught on to the fact that they're dumping into markets. and that's really what the challenge is. it really should be a world trade organisation filing or complaint that should be out there, but that hasn't been very effective in the past decade. the uk economy failed to grow in april after particularly wet weather put a damper on consumer spending. the office for national statistics recorded no growth for the month, which was in line with economists�* expectations. despite cost of living pressures, its estimated that australians are spending 22 billion dollars each year on their pets. phil mercer went to meet some furry friends in sydney. many businesses know a trick or two about making money from dogs. from daycare to vets and grooming, australia's pet industry that grew rapidly during the covid pandemic is worth billions of dollars. across australia, there are more pets than people, and dogs are the nation's favourite. there's an appetite in the australian market for to have a dog in the house and they're kind of one of those things that make the house a home, it's a family member. it's some people's only child, it's some people's extra child, particularly with dogs. just the love and, and the fun they give you and the joy they give you is just unmatched. the bond australians have with their pets is strong, despite economic uncertainty, but many animals are abandoned or taken to shelters. the gigi rescue cafe in sydney offers the unwanted a second chance. i don't say that it is cheap and easy to have cats or dogs. first of all, it is 20 years commitment. it's notjust a birthday present. the cost of having a pet is not cheap. if they got sick, even just the easy consultation costs a lot. there are physical and psychological benefits of having a furry friend. it's sociable and you get plenty of exercise. there is a significant economic dividend. it's estimated that each year australians spend about $22 billion on their pets that include fish, birds and snakes. but cost of living pressures have left their mark and many pet owners are cutting back where they can. what i've noticed since the third or fourth increase in interest rates, people are taking a lot longer to come to the grooming table. so whereas before they might have come every six weeks, they probably now coming every eight or ten. there's definitely a bit of a pinch. despite the challenges, however, working with dogs has its rewards. you get to hang around with people like dogs like bonnie, which can be a challenge. but yeah, no, it's a great lifestyle. and it's a lifestyle that one airline wants to get on board with. virgin australia has plans to become the country's first airline to let small cats and dogs fly in the cabin on some domestic flights. australia's love of pets is to hit new heights. phil mercer, bbc news, sydney. and that's it for this edition of business today. thanks for watching. hello and welcome to sportsday — i'm marc edwards. less than 48 hours before euro 2024 kicks off in germany we catch up with the scotland team tasked with spoiling the hosts' opening night party. india qualify for the t20 world cup super 8's but are made to work by the usa. the gold standard for kelly hodgkinson. she tops the european championship 800m podium with the olympics just around the corner.