Us treasury secretary janet yellen called the downgrade � arbitrary� and said Economic Conditions had improved under the biden administration. The news of the downgrade came after the close of trade on wall street but in asia investors have been pulling out of equities in reaction. Lets look at markets now in asia. Japan is currently down by over 2 . Hong kong not that far behind. This was off the back of yesterday, and most of this week we have seen the sharemarket, certainly wall street and asia having a strong session but this is certainly spooked sentiment. Lets discuss this with tom stevenson, whos an Investment Director at fidelity. Good morning. Janet woody allen saying this is arbitrary. I have her statement janet yellen and she said she strongly disagrees and says it is based on outdated data. That is based on outdated data. That is riuht. Is based on outdated data. That is right it is based on outdated data. That is right. It seems is based on outdated data. That is right. It seems the is based on outdated data. Twat is right. It seems the data that fitch have used this analysis carries the period from 2018 Analysis carries the period from 2018 2020. It analysis carries the period from 2018 2020. It is easy to see why the us treasury and white house are pretty furious about what has happened. I think a bit of context is important. It is not the first time that the Us Government rating has been downgraded. Standard poor� s, one of the three big ratings agencies is actually downgraded in exactly the same way from aaa down to aa in 2011 during the Eurozone Debt Crisis we had back then, 12 years ago. That really did not have a huge impact on us investors as we know. Us investments have been very strong over that period. I think a bit of context is important. Not good news for the us. You can see why the authorities are not pleased with this downgrade but i think the impact may be relatively limited in the long run. In terms of their concern about governance, saying it has not improved, it is actually gone the wrong direction over quite a long period of time. That is quite damning, really, isnt it . And to be honest, it is fair comment. Every couple of years we seem to get these situations where there is wrangling, bipartisan wrangling, bipartisan wrangling, over the debt ceiling. Really, the debt level in the us is used as a political football. To kick around and political football. To kick around and the political football. To kick around and the house i political football. To kick around and the House Of Representatives stands off against the white house and we saw that a couple of months ago. The debt ceiling crisis was resolved a couple of months ago and that is what makes the timing of this downgrade slightly curious because its hard to see the information that fitch has now is any worse thanit that fitch has now is any worse than it was two months ago when the crisis was resolved. I when we look about what it is saying about the outlook for the us economy, what i saw it says over the next decade high Interest Rates and rising debt will increase Interest Service burden. � v will increase Interest Service burden. � � ,. , burden. But its also looking at the ageing burden. But its also looking at the ageing population burden. But its also looking | at the ageing population and the cost that will ensue, rising Healthcare Costs will raise spending even more, spending more on medicare and social security. It is quite an in depth look at what is ahead for america, which is true for many economies . Absolutely. That is not many economies . Absolutely. That is not a many economies . Absolutely. That is not a america many economies . Absolutely. That is not a America Specificl that is not a america specific problem. A lot of money needs to be spent. Ageing populations, a lot of cost involved in healthcare. General infrastructure spending. That is particularly the case in the us. The us infrastructure is ageing, crumbling in many cases the needs a lot of money and spending honour. Yes, the fiscal outlook is challenging for many developed economies, but particularly so for the us. Briefly, we are out of time, in a sentence, what do you think wall street will do when it starts to trade later today in response to this . Response to this . Briefly, i think the response to this . Briefly, i think the evidence response to this . Briefly, i think the evidence from. Response to this . Briefly, i l think the evidence from asia response to this . Briefly, i think the evidence from asia is the Equity Markets will probably suffer a bit. The bond market actually could go the other way because there will be an element to a flight to safety, we often get this, when there is stress in the system, there is stress in the system, there is stress in the system, there is a flight to safety and people actually want to buy Us Government bonds. People actually want to buy Us Government bonds. Good to talk to ou. Government bonds. Good to talk to yom thank government bonds. Good to talk to you. Thank you. Lets get some of the days other news now. Uber has reported its first ever profit, making 36 million during the second quarter. The results show that despite high inflation in many countries where it operates, its customers are still willing to pay for the convenience of hailing a ride and getting food delivered to their door. Us regulators are investigating around 280,000 new tesla model 3 and model y vehicles over reports the cars lose their power steering. This is the first step of a formal investigation to determine if the issue poses an unreasonable safety risk. Tesla declined to comment on the investigation. Prime minister rishi sunak and the Energy Security secretary grant shapps will meet Energy Industry leaders today in an effort to strengthen the uks energy independence. The meeting follows mondays announcement about new north sea oil and gas licensing, alongside support for two further Carbon Capture and storage projects. Ministers will meet the heads of shell, bp and other big uk Energy Players in Downing Street. Were nowjoined by richard black, senior associate at the Energy Climate intelligence unit. What are they hoping to achieve today . I what are they hoping to achieve toda . ~ ,. , today . I think it is largely Performance Today . I think it is largely performance politics, today . I think it is largely performance politics, to l today . I think it is largely. Performance politics, to be honest, i dont think it has much to do with Energy Security because there are already many meetings and conversations that happened between the Business Department and Energy Companies and they are commercial enterprises and do whatever they see is in the interest of shareholders and i think in normal circumstances is government in particular would support that. If you remember, shell pulled out of the cando oilfield last year because it did not see it as commercially viable and it is hard to see that Something Like this will result in any meaningful new outputs of oil and gas from the north sea for example on if the government wants to increase the building of renewables for example, it is clear what they have to do. It has to do with Planning Regulations and connections to the grid. Nothing to do with getting the heads of governments into Downing Street for a photo shoot. . , Downing Street for a photo shoot. . ,. , Downing Street for a photo shoot. . , ~,. , shoot. 100 or more new licenses will become shoot. 100 or more new licenses will become available shoot. 100 or more new licenses will become available for will become available for sourcing energy from the north sea. You would imagine that bp and shell will be interested to hear about that. They are coming online in the autumn so to speak. In terms of becoming an independent supply of energy, i. E. We are not reliant on importing energy from elsewhere, which has become a huge issue since the war in ukraine, is this not important, these conversations they are having today . These conversations they are having today . There is no way the uk can having today . There is no way the uk can become having today . There is no way l the uk can become independent in oil and gas. It only ever was very briefly. Basically the north sea output is forecast to decline. That is the governments own forecast. It is stimulating any new investment would make a slight change and i think this is really about trying to draw an oil coloured line, as you might say, between conservative policies and labour policies. Conservatives want to paint Label Policies as dangerous, leading to blackouts and job losses but the reality is the north sea has been shedding jobs for years. The workforce is halved over 20 years because northey is a depleted basin, not much oil there, poor quality stuff. Expensive to get out. And we are at the stage where global oil and gas demand, will plateau very soon and start to decline. We appreciate and start to decline. We appreciate your and start to decline. We appreciate your thoughts on that. We shall be keeping across those meetings today and update you as we get any details. Its a very busy time for Earnings News and among those revealing how much money theyre making is starbucks. The worlds biggest coffee chain says it made revenues of 9. 2 billion in the third quarter. That is up i2 on the year before and was helped in part by a Consumer Recovery in china and normalizing work from Office Trends in the united states. Still, starbucks shares fell on the news. 0ur north America Business correspondent Michelle Fleury has more from new york. Americans love of coffee helps starbucks through the worst of the pandemic years but with high inflation, a cup of coffee is 5 on average, the big question for investors going into earnings season was wood consumers still spend money on elaborate coffee . The answer was mixed. South north america grew 7 even after they raised prices at starbucks, below the wall street forecast, Customer Traffic on the increase by i in most games came from existing customers spending more money. Sales in china, its second biggest market, rose sharply. Store sales increased a whopping 46 from a year ago. Starbucks remains a favourite ran amongst chinese consumers, the company benefiting from a rebound after strict covid i9 restrictions were lifted. The coffee chain says Wage Increases and investments in stalls drag down profits. A ceo who took over from Howard Schultz in march failed the progress the company was making and still faces lots of challenges though, including the companys response to union organising. Around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. When i take my sugar tutee. All the boys are jealous of me. The blaze family are absolute potty on teapots, spending a quarter of £1 million on the biggest collection in the uk, everything from politicians to P0p Everything from politicians to pop culture and wild and wacky creations. I pop culture and wild and wacky creations. Pop culture and wild and wacky creations creations. I have a favourite which is creations. I have a favourite which is a creations. I have a favourite which is a harley creations. I have a favourite which is a Harley Davidson l which is a Harley Davidson teapot, and i saw the man make and saw how hard it was to make it annual is. Diana. Because diana was my favourite person. People say why collect teapots and i say why not . So people say why collect teapots and i say why not . And i say why not . So many different and i say why not . So many different weird and i say why not . So many different weird and and i say why not . So many i different weird and wonderful things different weird and wonderful things when you get to the museum we consider Different Things museum we consider Different Things we do. There are ones that things we do. There are ones that are things we do. There are ones that are the size and we have a 12 foot that are the size and we have a 12 foot teapot in the garden you 12 foot teapot in the garden you would never believe the things you would never believe the things people can make. For more stories things people can make. Fr . More stories across the uk, head to the bbc news white site. Lets continue with our Business Coverage and focus on brazil where its central bank is expected to cut Interest Rates for the first time in three years today. Economists are expecting a small cut of 25 basis points from its current high of 13. 75 percent. President lula himself has called on the central bank to cut Interest Rates as inflation eased. But to what extent will a small cut stimulate Latin Americas largest economy . Im joined byjimena blanco, Chief Analyst and head of Americas Research at the risk Intelligence Company verisk maplecroft. So the central bank is likely to reduce rates today, what impact will that have . The expectation impact will that have . The expectation is impact will that have . The expectation is for impact will that have . The expectation is for a impact will that have . The expectation is for a cart i impact will that have . Ti;a expectation is for a cart and i think its important to mention beside the inflation calling, a source of concern is that growth is slowing down. We have moderate growth and moderate employment growth and that growth is calling. This first cart is unlikely to make a difference that President Lula wanted to make in the economy. For the next thing to watch is the pace of future cuts, first of all, will this lead to 25 basis points or as some as the expect, 50 basis points, and that starts a faster pace of future cuts or are we going to see slower progression and i think that will make the difference in terms of the impact it may have on the economy. Unlikely to have a major one over the course of the coming month but maybe start improving the outlook and improve expectations for growth in 2024. ~. ,. , in 2024. What is the outlook for the economy in 2024. What is the outlook for the economy at in 2024. What is the outlook for the economy at the in 2024. What is the outlook for the economy at the moment . At the moment, it is calling from 2. 9 gdp growth and last year we expected 1. 7 for this year. 1. 2 for next year. Some of the issues the economy is facing has to do with volatile external demand so of course brazil is a major Commodity Exporter and amongst the top five Agricultural Producers across 35 different economies. Commodities. For the country, Job Generation particularly formalJob Generation and stimulating consumption, these are keys. An area where the country is struggling with his food inflation. The performance in agriculture and that how that translates into prices for consumers within the country and notjust as a source of xxxx in exports will be a crucial variable to watch going forward. �. , crucial variable to watch going forward. �. ,. , forward. Brazil is so important to the region forward. Brazil is so important to the region we forward. Brazil is so important to the region we know forward. Brazil is so important l to the region we know argentina is in dire straits, talk us through the region, what is the picture like . The through the region, what is the picture like . Picture like . The relative picture. Picture like . The relative picture. As picture like . The relative picture, as well picture like . The relative picture, as well doing picture, as well doing comparatively well because latin American Growth is so sluggish and the region has really struggled to rebound from the pandemic. It has done but it has done so much slower than the global economy, and one of the key problems for Latin America in general, including brazil is the structural problems that slow down economic growth, going forward, remain there. One of the key challenges for brazil and other countries is to use this period of moderate rebound, moderate growth and Job Generation to start tackling some of those structural problems around tax reforms, pendulum reforms, fiscal forms and easing barriers of trade in fiscalforms and easing barriers of trade in order to attract the investment they need or else they will be looking at a very slow growth over the coming decades. Now to the womens world cup and england have booked their place in the last 16 after they thrashed china 6 1. The lionesses ended as group winners, and will now face nigeria on monday morning. But unlike the mens team the english womens team do not get paid bonuses for progressing through the rounds. And its a topic of serious contention. For more, lets go to our Business Reporter katie silver who has been in australia and new zealand covering the world cup. The inequality is a big subject, isnt it . It the inequality is a big subject, isnt it . The inequality is a big subject, isnt it . It is and thats because subject, isnt it . It is and thats because it subject, isnt it . It is and thats because it can subject, isnt it . It is andj thats because it can look subject, isnt it . It is and i thats because it can look so multifaceted, on the face of a team such as the lionesses can have paid quality when it comes to the nitty gritty like the issue of bonuses there are big discrepancies. This is a row that has occurred between the lionesses and the Football Association in england for quite some time. Lionesses won the world cup in qatar they had one last year they would have made £13 million in bonuses, half a million per player, but the lionesses are not entitled to pay in this way. For example we saw the team send an e mail to the Football Association from the hotel in Brisbane Heat of the first game in this world cup against haiti saying they would be postponing these negotiations until the end of the world cup because they want to concentrate on the game in the sport at hand. It has been going for quite some time to be as you say they remain at loggerheads and they will be playing the nigerian Super Falcons, and the air paid dispute with their Football Association is even worse, they almost did not end up getting on a plane and they threatened to boycott games at the world cup because of the pay negotiations. The Super Falcons some of them had not been paid apparently for two years, and the coach himself so he has not been paid his wages for seven months. ,. , ~ ,. , months. Katie, thank you. Good to see you months. Katie, thank you. Good to see you again. From treats shaped like Designer Bags to edible versions of your favourite cartoon character, weve been inside a willy wonka style Biscuit Factory for the latest episode of our ceo secrets series. Dubbed the � ministry of biscuits� , its where millions of treats are hand iced every year and where co founder Harriet Hastings shared her business advice. Lets take a look. What is amazing about biscuits as they are a canvas, i think of them as a blank canvas on which you can create in beautiful design. I the people i sing the biscuits are artists. And i think of this as artists. And i think of this as a design business. My secret to success is to remember to put a Marketing Lens on everything. Where the hiring people, designing products or even raising money. Ithink designing products or even raising money. I think what sometimes happens as people get sometimes happens as people get so focused on designing a product and doing a beautiful website the marketing gets bolted on at the end when it is kind of too late. It is really sad when great products do not find their markets because they are just not sufficiently discoverable. I was writing the Press Release on my head when i was designing the product and it was pr that launched this business and made it a brand people were talking about. Business as a hustle, have to be able to be flexible, you have to be able to not be flawed when the plan has to change. Sometimes when the plan changes it is quite a good thing because we learn and we move on. Thing because we learn and we move can thing because we learn and we move on move on. Why do you need marketing. Move on. Why do you need marketing, they move on. Why do you need marketing, they look move on. Why do you need marketing, they look so. Marketing, they look so amazing. Too good to eat, those biscuits. Today is earth 0vershoot day, the day of each year when humanity uses more resources than the planet can regenerate in a year. For 2023, the total Ecological Footprint has increased by 0. 2 percent compared to last year, while total biocapacity has risen by 0. 3 percent. Last year, earth 0vershoot day was marked on the 28th ofjuly, so are we protecting the planet more or does more work still urgently need to be done . Im sure you probably know the answer to that question already. Sarah perreard, co ceo and Stakeholder Engagement lead at ea earth action joins us now. Lets look at the good news, we are going on the right direction we are reaching Earth Overshoot Day late in the year, that has to be a good thing . We are a little that has to be a good thing . Are a little bit better off than last year for example on the 2020 lockdown caused by the Global Pandemic there was an initial drop in Co2 Emissions but they increased in the second half of the year this shows there is fluctuation in the impact humanity has on the globe but the overall trend is still the same, and erosion of Natural Resources, and erosion of the health of the planet and ourselves, so there is still progress across the globe to better protect our planet but we are not moving fast enough, whether it be on plastic pollution, current emissions or deforestation and more, unless there is a State Of Emergency and more ambitious action to protect the environment, Earth Overshoot will come soon each year as the demand for more from the planet gross. From the planet gross. From our from the planet gross. From your point from the planet gross. From your point of from the planet gross. From your point of view, from the planet gross. From your point of view, what from the planet gross. From your point of view, what can | your point of view, what can viewers watching now to . 0vershoot happens when Countries Worldwide use more Natural Resources than the earth can renew and when we produce more waste mainly Carbon Dioxide and the environment can absorb. This leads to a deficit in ecological resources and an increase in harmful waste in the atmosphere. There has been a growth in the Global Demand for resources over the 100 pastures for basically everything and anything that we humans need or at least we think that we need to go about our lives. There is currently no system in place that is capable. No system in place that is capable no system in place that is caable. ,. , capable. Sorry to interrupt ou capable. Sorry to interrupt you what capable. Sorry to interrupt you what can capable. Sorry to interrupt you what can viewers capable. Sorry to interrupt you what can viewers do . I capable. Sorry to interrupt you what can viewers do . These solutions are you what can viewers do . These solutions are basically, you what can viewers do . These solutions are basically, there. Solutions are basically, there are several. There is closer for conversation, protecting and preserving wild spaces, avoiding destroying more than has already gone. The second is restoration. Reforestation, then there is regenerative agriculturist, the way we feed ourselves, the way we feed humanity has a huge impact over that so typically something viewers can do that as a first step is for example reducing drastically animalfarming, so drastically animal farming, so animalfeeding, drastically animalfarming, so animalfeeding, because those animal feeding, because those actually animalfeeding, because those actually are huge on the land use we use and this is a huge impact for Earth Overshoot Day. Thank you for that, we are out of time. From earth action. Lets show you the markets. The top story that being fitches downgraded the us Credit Rating from triple a two double a class and you can see markets, this is impact on Trade In Asia and likely to be felt on wall street as the day progresses around the world. That is all for me from now, i will see you very soon. Wet and windy weather on the way for wednesday. More on that in a second. But first of all, we start off with the news that for northern ireland, weve had the wettestjuly on record, with over double the averagejuly rainfall. Those records go back to 1836. It was also the wettestjuly on record for greater manchester, merseyside and lancashire as well. Now, weve got more rain to come through wednesday. This area of low pressure continues to strengthen and were going to see a swathe of particularly strong winds just running to the south of this hook of cloud you can see just here. Now, that is going to be working into the south west of the uk, but already those winds are picking up across south west england, across Southern Parts of wales, as our band of rain gets driven northwards and eastwards across much of the country. And, ok, its going to be a mild start to the day on wednesday, but those winds will continue to strengthen during the first part of the morning. The windiest weather works in across the south coast of england, where were looking at gusts of around 40 to 55 miles an hour. Even stronger for Northern France and the channel islands, where we could see gusts of 60 odd miles an hour. Now, winds that strong could bring down one or two trees, so you might find some localised disruption. You might also see the ferries running with even some cancellations or delays, so it might be worth checking before travelling if you have plans that way. Therell be plenty of heavy downpours for england and wales, some thunder mixed in, some really heavy downpours. But for northern scotland, well, this is probably where the brightest, driest weather is going to be. Youll manage a little bit of sunshine. It probably wont be too bad a day. Now, through wednesday night, the worst of the rain clears away eastwards, but you can still see some tightly packed isobars across the uk as we head into thursday. It will be a blustery day, with some of the strongest winds this time heading into northern ireland, driving in frequent showers here. Therell also be loads of showers for Northern Areas of scotland. But across inland areas, you probably have to wait, really, until the afternoon until we start to see those showers become really widespread and heavy. Now, its not going to be the warmest of days for for august, with temperatures generally high teens, maybejust about the low 20s. And that kind of Weather Pattern continues friday and into the weekend. We might even see some longer spells of rain across england and wales as the low pressure potentially moves its way in this weekend. But if youre fed up with being rained on over the last, what, six or seven weeks, better news for next week. It looks like we might have found the first signs of something that resembles summer late next week. Good morning. Welcome to breakfast with sally nugent and jon kay. 0ur headlines today. Former us President Donald Trump is indicted over his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The scottish mp margaret ferrier, who broke covid lockdown rules, loses her seat, triggering a by election. The fire brigades� union says it will write to the government over serious concerns about Migrant Barge the bibby stockholm. How much can you trust the reviews you see online . As part of a bbc investigation, weve found examples of fake ones even on things like medical clinics. Ill have the details. England can take a breather after beating china at the womens world cup. After a 6 1win, next stop is the last 16, where they will play nigeria on monday morning. It nigeria on monday morning. Is going to be windy a england it is going to be windy across england and wales and seven coastal counties in the english channel. There could well be some gales. All the details later on in the programme. Its wednesday 2nd of august. Former us President Donald Trump has been criminally charged with plotting to overturn his 2020 election defeat. Hes accused of four counts, including Conspiracy To Defraud the us, tampering with a witness and conspiracy against