And well ask why one of indias most succesful entrepreneurs known as the coffee king has died, in unexplained circumstances. Over the last couple of hours, all eyes have been on this man, the chairman of the Us Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell. Hes announced a cut in Interest Rates by a quarter of one percent for the First Time Since the 2008 financial crisis, when the American Economy was in the depths of its worst recession since the 1930s. We decided today to lower the target for the federal funds rate we decided today to lower the target for the federalfunds rate by we decided today to lower the target for the federal funds rate by a quarter of a percentage point to a range of 2 to two and a quarter percent. The outlook for the us economy remains favourable and this design will support that outlook. If we take a look at this graph you can see how us Interest Rates were close to zero for seven years after the financial crisis in 2008 but have been gradually rising since 2016. The main
We start with one of the worlds biggest tech events, mobile world congress, which is getting under way in shanghai. With technology at the heart of the us china trade war its difficult for the 60,000 delegates to get away from the tensions its causing whether thats around 56 telecoms, Artificial Intelligence or big data. That trade war has led to tariffs on more than half the goods the worlds two biggest economies sell to each other. And the us is threatening tariffs on another 300bn of goods which would hit consumer products, including the electronics on show in shanghai. The us has also effectively banned telecoms giant huawei over security concerns. Its one of the biggest firms at the show and has recently said it expected that blaclisting will cost it 30 billion worth of sales over two years. Americas biggest tech comapnies are also being hurt by the trade war. Apple says any further us tariffs against china will weigh on its global competitiveness. That could lead prices to rise b
A sharp fall in its net profit, slipping 25 in 2023 compared to the previous year. Aramco attributed the downturn to Lower Crude Oil prices and decreased production. The companys net income dropped from 161 billion in 2022 to 121 billion last year. Despite the challenges posed by declining oil prices, aramco will increase its dividend payments, providing a much needed financial boost to saudi arabia. Lets get more now from our middle east Business Correspondent sameer hashmi. With a big fall off in profit, why is it increasing its dividend . It its dividend . Is a steep fall compared to 2022. It is a steep fall compared to 2022. It is still the second best performance in terms of annual results at 121 billion. Two reasons why they increased the dividend pay out. Number one, Aramco Abbott is the main driver of the Saudi Arabian economy. Saudi owned entities own 19 of it and they rely heavily on that income to really find some these massive projects inside arabia. They tried to keep the
Between april and june, the company made a Profit Ofjust over 30 billion, a lot of money by anyones metric, but significantly down from more than the 48 billion it made in the same period a year ago. The main reason is, as you can see here, that oil prices during the period were at the lowest point in the last year, as the boost they got from russias invasion of ukraine wore off. And last week, in an effort to keep them that way, saudi arabia said it would only produce nine Million Barrels a day. That extended Production Cuts by the 0pec group of big oil producers, who profit more from a higher price. When it comes to saudi aramco, those higher prices mean higher Dividend Payments for shareholders, and its boosted those to nearly 30 billion in the current period. So i put it to our middle east Business Correspondent Sameer Hashmi that even with falling profits, the biggest winner is the saudi government, which is aramcos biggest shareholder. The saudi government owns around 90 of the c
Business stories. We start in saudi arabia as the Worlds Biggest Oil Company Aramco is set to announce its latest Half Year Results in the next half an hour or so. Last year, aramco netted record profits of over 160 billion, buoyed by soaring energy prices. But in may this year, they reported that profits dropped by nearly a fifth in the first three months of the year as the gloomy Global Outlook saw oil prices drop. To tackle this, saudi arabia has been cutting production to the tune of1 Million Barrels a day. They started in july and have now extended to september. The oil price has since been creeping up. Live now to our middle east Business Correspondent sameer hashmi. Sameer, nice to see you. 160 billion is so much money made in a year. What are they expected to say in the next half hour . Expected to say in the next half hour . Sally, ithink it is matching half hour . Sally, ithink it is matching up half hour . Sally, ithink it is matching up to half hour . Sally, ithink it is ma