In cutting the cost of borrowing for the first time in overfour years. The Federal Reserve have dropped the main Interest Rate in the worlds biggest economy by half a percentage point, bringing it down to between 4. 75 and 5 . A drop larger than many expected, with some wondering now if this reflects the scale of the problems facing the american economy or the success in getting the pace of price rises, inflation, close to the banks targets. The governor of the fed, Jerome Powell says the us economy is in good shape and they intend to keep it that way. Our North America Business correspondent Ritika Gupta has the details. The Federal Reserve has delivered a super sized Interest Rate cut aimed at bolstering the us Labour Market. The 0. 5 percentage cut, the first in over four years, brings its key Interest Rate, the federal funds rate, down to between 4. 75 and 5 . It comes amid Signs Inflation in america is continuing to fall, while the Job Market remains strong, even as unemployment h
Giant us steel have fallen sharply, after President Biden weighed in to oppose a near 15 billion takeover of the firm by a japanese company. Us steel is based in pittsburgh, pennsylvania a key battleground in this years election. The takeover deal, agreed in december, has caused major controversy there. But any move to block it could raise tensions with japan a vital ally for the us as it tries to counter the growing power of china. From new york, erin delmore reports. President biden is taking a stand against a deal in the making. Us steel, an american company, is set to be bought by nippon steel, a japanese company. But President Biden says that us steel should stay in the us. L115 says that us steel should stay in the us in the us. Us steel the stronger in the us. Us steel the stronger america in the us. Us steel the stronger america is in the us. Us steel the| stronger america is made in the us. Us steel the stronger america is made here. The president praised the iconic 123 year o
here s where the bank s base rate stands at the moment at 5.25% it is the highest in 15 years. the bank has raised the cost of borrowing fourteen times to try and tame soaring prices but inflation has eased sharply in recent months and the expectation now is that rates may soon start to come down. however, for those in the uk hoping for cheaper mortgages and loans there was something of a bad omen in the us, where the chair of the federal reserve seemed to dash expectations of a rate cut next month. as michelle fleury reports. the fourth meeting in a row, the federal reserve did not raise interest rates. this is the longest pause since policymakers began their aggressive rate campaign to tame inflation back in march of 2022. but for rate weary americans, well, they will likely have to wait a few more months to see any relief, given these comments by the federal chair. based on the meeting today, i would tell you that i don t think it s likely that the committee will reach a
has said the uk is prepared to back our words with actions against the houthis. peter sand is chief analyst at xeneta, an ocean and airfreight analytics platform. i don t know if you have data or statistics on how this is impacting trade so far? if i look at the impacting trade so far? if i look at the most recent developments, a key indicator of the tensions that we are seeing right now, they are up today following the most recent attacks and tension building. we have now is almost 200% up from about a month ago. we are now at 5400, and in the uk, 4500 up, though still dramatic. the reason tensions are now shooting our destroyers. it is not making this go away. some ofthe not making this go away. some of the world s not making this go away. some of the world s biggest - not making this go away. some of the world s biggest shipping | of the world s biggest shipping companies are completely avoiding the red sea at the moment and that will likely continue for some time? w
and hot on the heels of antony blinken s visit to china. beijing will seek to improve its ties with europe. however, europe has also started to pull away from china to ensure it is not too reliant on their exports. still, there are strong economic ties between germany and china for the last seven years germany has been china s biggest trading partner in europe. so, what is at stake? i m joined by gregor sebastian economics analyst at the mercator institute for china studies based out of berlin. 0ne welcome to the programme. first of all, for the two leaders what do they want to achieve in the next few days? good morning. i mean, the first thing isjust that good morning. i mean, the first thing is just that the meeting is taking place, right? we have a radically different relationship between the two leaders now than we had in devious years. under angela merkel s meant the cabinets on the chinese and german sides had really constant and close relations and this is the firs