Business Matters

Roger Hearing looks at how the Federal Reserve has left the United States interest rates unchanged and steady for the first time in more than a year. However, its latest economic forecast suggest that more rate hikes lie ahead. Half of workers aren’t engaged on the job, putting in slightest effort to get by, according to research by Gallup. Employee engagement, a measure of involvement and enthusiasm at work, globally declined for the second year in a row. And the frenzy stoked by the start of the Beyonce's world tour is has been driving up prices in Sweden.(Picture: Shopper in a supermarket in New York, in JUNE 12. Source: Getty Images)

This week the EU votes on ways to regulate AI. Vice-President Margrethe Vestager leads the charge against threats posed by artificial intelligence. She tells the BBC that although the threat of human extinction ”probably does exist”, the likelihood is “quite small”. She says initial threats include discrimination, and criminals getting ahead of the police in understanding AI. This week European politicians debate the issue as they vote on the AI Act. It's the first law for AI systems in the West and it largely categorizes the away AI is used into four levels of risk: unacceptable risk, high risk, limited risk and minimal or no risk. If the legislation passes, unacceptable risk applications would banned by default and will not be deployed in European countries. U.S inflation has fallen again – but is it enough to prevent an interest rate rise? Inflation was down to 4% in the US at the end of May – its lowest since 2021. Prices for eggs, petrol and furniture were down, helping to cut inflation to less than half

The U.S watchdog has asked a judge to block a $69 billion bid by Microsoft to buy Activision Blizzard.The gaming company makes ‘Call of Duty’ and many other titles. But the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) position on the deal is now closer to the that taken by the UK regulator. The issue hangs on claims the sale would give Microsoft's Xbox exclusive access to Activision games, leaving Nintendo consoles and Sony's PlayStation out in the cold.Also in the U.S, America's biggest bank, JPMorgan Chase, has agreed in principle to settle a class action lawsuit brought on behalf of victims of the convicted sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein. The case was brought by one victim on behalf of hundreds of other women and girls abused by the disgraced financier. The bank is facing a bill of around $290 million.And – you may have heard of ‘greenwashing’ – but have you heard of the new phrase…green-hushing’? We find out why companies are suddenly starting to keep their green credentials to themselves.

President Biden has said that he should know by the end of Friday whether there is a deal with Republicans to raise the government debt ceiling, so it can continue to pay its bills. Mr Biden said things were looking good and he thought negotiators were very close to a deal. The two sides have a little more breathing room after the US Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen, extended the debt ceiling deadline by four days, to 5 June.(Picture: U.S. President Joe Biden. Source: Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Nvidia, a US firm which specializes in chips powering artificial intelligence, surged as much as 27% on Thursday, putting the company on course for record performance with a market cap above $900 billion.But where is the future of AI while there are raising concerns about regulation and safety?And have you ever heard of ‘greedflation’? Find out why price rises might be bringing out some unsavoury tendencies in retail. (Picture: The logo of NVIDIA is seen displayed on a mobile phone screen with AI (artificial intelligence) written in the background. Source: Getty Images)

It's day two of the G7 summit, and the leaders of the group of major developed economies are in the Japanese city of Hiroshima. So far the focus of their talks has been Russia and Ukraine - today there is another major issue on the table – China. The Indian government says it will start withdrawing its highest value currency note from circulation saying it is not widely in use. People have been asked exchange their two-thousand rupee notes (worth around twenty five dollars) for smaller denominations by the end of September. An official from the central bank said the withdrawal would not cause any disruption to normal life or the economy.NASA has awarded the contract to build its astronaut Moon lander to a consortium led by Blue Origin - the space company owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.(Picture: G7 leaders (left to right) Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, US President Joe Biden, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak,

Royalty and dignitaries from around the world have arrived in London ahead of the coronation of King Charles. Many of them will be guests in Westminster Abbey on Saturday morning where the coronation ceremony will begin at 11 o'clock.Millions of other people across the UK and beyond are preparing to celebrate the coronation of King Charles III - a symbolic ceremony combining a religious service and pageantry. The day of splendour and formality will feature customs dating back more than 1,000 years. King Charles III is head of the Commonwealth countries and the head of state of 14 countries. (Picture: His Majesty King Charles III. Source: WPA Pool/Getty Images)

Apple has reported quarterly revenue and profit above Wall Street's expectations, fuelled by strong iPhone sales - particularly in emerging markets such as India (where the company recently opened its first stores). The US tech giant reported profits of twenty-four billion dollars ($24 billion) on revenue of ninety-four-point-eight billion dollars ($94.8 billion) in the first three months of this year.The US regional banking sector is coming under renewed pressure amid a crisis in confidence. Trading in the California lender PacWest was briefly suspended as shares fell more than fifty percent, after its owners confirmed it had explored strategic asset sales. The British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran has won Thinking Out Loud copyright case. A New York court ruled today that Mr Sheeran did not copy Marvin Gaye's Let's Get It On when composing the track. (Picture: An iPhone logo in Shanghai, China. Source: Getty Images)

Geoffrey Hinton helped to establish some of the basic foundations of AI but now fears the technology is racing ahead too fast. He is leaving Google after more than ten years so he can speak more freely about the risks. The White House says First Republic bank, which collapsed to be taken over by JP Morgan, was ‘severely mismanaged’. However, some customers and former staff disagree. The failure of San Francisco-based First Republic is the second-largest in US history and the third in the country since March.And, Hollywood writers and television producers approach a deadline to sign a new contract - or take strike action…the first such action in 15 years. (Photo: Artificial intelligence pioneer Geoffrey Hinton speaks at the Thomson Reuters Financial and Risk Summit in Toronto, December 4, 2017. Mark Blinch/Reuters)

Apple Chief Executive, Tim Cook, has met with Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, as he is looking for a market growth and investment in India.Tesla shares dropped 2% after the electric-vehicle maker cuts down the price U.S for the sixth time this year. Tesla shares slid further in initial after-market trading on Wednesday following the company's quarterly report. April 18th - was Tax Day in the US - the day that marks the deadline for individuals to file their income tax returns for the year. That opportunity was by a group of billionaires to bring a protest to the US Congress too - demanding they pay more tax.It's been a challenging time for the global airline industry. Demand has yet to recover following the Covid pandemic - and this week industry leaders have warned the cost of de-carbonising flights could send passenger costs even higher in the years to come.(Picture: Men talk on their mobile phones in front of an iPhone 14 advertisement, in India. Source: Sankhadeep Banerjee/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

The US voting technology firm Dominion has settled with Fox News just before their defamation trial was due to begin. Dominion had sought $1.6bn (£1.3bn) from Fox, whom it claimed spread falsehoods about its voting machines in the 2020 presidential election. The final settlement agreed between both parties was for $787.5m.The world of its biggest competitor the streaming giant Netflix has just released its latest financial results and it has bounced back from the loss of 200,000 subscribers a year ago. Pew Research in the United States found that even when women earnt the same as a male partner - they still spent more of their down time caring for either children or elderly parents - as opposed to the men who spent it - doing whatever they wanted.Baseball's new pitch clock designed to speed up the pace of the game has won many fans - just not in professional teams' commercial departments. (People walk by the News Corporation headquarters, home to Fox News, on April 18, 2023 in New York City. Source: Spencer P

There have been economic tensions between the US and China that has been for some time dominating the news and the involvement of their respective allies. Is this a new trade war that is coming back to the boil?And as a jobseeker, ChatGPT is affecting job applications as fears of cheating grow and employers thinking to disqualify any AI-aided submissions. (Picture: A photo illustration showing Chinese 100 yuan banknotes and US banknotes in Beijing. Source: EPA/WU HONG)

US inflation fell to 5% last month – the lowest rate since May 2021. March’s monthly consumer price index – which measures the price of a ‘basket’ of goods and services – continued its steady decline from its peak of just over 9%. It prompted US President Joe Biden to tweet that: “Inflation has come down 45% since its summer peak. Gas prices are down, and grocery prices fell last month for the first time since September 2020”. But the slowdown is not expected to sway officials at the Federal Reserve, who set interest rates. Economists are still expecting an increase. Also in the US - some ambitious new targets have been announced for cutting greenhouse gas emissions from cars. The Environmental Protection Agency wants two-thirds of all new vehicles to be electric within a decade. It's the latest step by the Biden administration to push for the mass adoption of EVs. Last year, electric vehicles made up about six percent of the American market so there's a long way to go to hit those targets. Are they realisti

The International Monetary Fund raises concerns about the sudden failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank in the United States, and the loss of market confidence in Credit Swiss. At its spring conference with the World Bank in Washington, the IMF warned that global financial stability risks have increased rapidly in the last few months, in part because banks generally didn't prepare adequately for interest rates increases. The IMF warns that this might impact in particular regional and smaller banks in the US. Meanwhile, in Japan where interest rates are at 2%, we look at what the Bank of Japan might do with rates in the future. The central bank has indicated that it may revise or even abandon its targeting of long-term interest rates by the end of September - if conditions are right. And – we report on a novel way of increasing productivity in Bangladesh – providing workers with free glasses to improve their eyesight.

The spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are beginning in Washington - the major global financial institutions - are gathering at a time of profound concern about persistent inflation, struggling countries, and the health of the banking system. It follows several failures of regional banks and uncertainty in giant finance houses like Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank There’s another twist in the story of FTX - the crypto-currency exchange that collapsed spectacularly last year in what US prosecutors say was an "epic" fraud. It's now emerged that the former bosses of FTX joked about losing tens of millions of dollars and even signed off expenses with emojis. These are just some of the findings of an initial report from the new management team at the company.And President Joe Biden arrives in Northern Ireland on Tuesday to join ceremonies marking the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday peace agreement. He will be meeting business leaders there - and that's significant because busi

Healthcare company Johnson and Johnson has offered nearly $9 billion to settle a claim from tens of thousands of people who claim its talc product caused cancer. We hear from a lawyer whose firm is representing 17,000 claimants who say they've been affected by the company's trademarked talcum powder product. The housing boom is definitely over. In Europe anyway. House prices in the EU have suffered their first quarterly fall since 2015, according to the EU statistics office this week. House-hunters in Germany and Denmark tells us of their difficulties finding a home.Police forces around the world have launched a major joint operation to dismantle one of the biggest criminal marketplaces online. Genesis Market is thought to have sold personal information, such as passwords, stolen from more than two million people in the past six years. The details have allowed fraudsters to impersonate their victims online without raising suspicions. Globally, 200 searches were carried out and 120 people were arrested.And,

US House committee votes to release Donald Trump’s tax information to the publicJapan’s central bank catches markets off guard by making a move to tackle inflation.And what impact will the Taliban government’s decision to close universities for women have on the economy ?Devina Gupta discusses these and other business news stories with the Editor of National and Strategic Affairs at The Print website in India Jyoti Malhotra, and Walter Todd, the President and chief investment officer of US based Greenwood Capital.

One of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, Binance, has pulled out of a deal to acquire its struggling rival FTX, leaving the latter's future in doubt. The near-collapse of FTX which was valued at $32 billion at the start of the year has shaken the crypto market, with Bitcoin and other currencies suffering steep falls. Rahul Tandon is joined by Tracy Wang, the deputy managing editor at Coindesk in New York, and entrepreneur Candy Valentino, the author of Wealth Habits: Six Ordinary Steps to Achieve Extraordinary Financial Freedom.It is investment day at the climate change conference COP27 in Egypt. We hear from the Makhtar Sop Diop, the managing director of the International Finance Corporation, which is the private arm of the World Bank, about how Africa can pay for climate change.Yongwook Ryu, assistant professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, talks to us about the ASEAN summit in Cambodia. The summit brings together the major economies from

There are warnings people could starve across the globe due to food shortages caused by the war in Ukraine. The World Trade Organisation is seeking solutions to the crisis - we'll hear from UNICEF's Rania Dagesh along with University of Maryland economist Peter Morici, and Sushma Ramachandran, a Delhi-based independent journalist. Our live guests will also discuss turbulence in the Asian markets and a potentially lucrative deal in cricket's Indian Premier League.Also on Business Matters, India's biggest sporting league - the IPL - is on the verge of a multi-billion dollar deal over broadcasting rights. We'll hear from sports journalist Saurabh Somani and the self-styled 'image guru' Dilip Cherian about what it will mean.Have robots finally overcome their one big challenge - becoming human? Or is it still in the realms of sci-fi fantasy? We speak to Dr Radhika Dirks, the head of US firm Ribo AI, about why Google's latest showpiece may not be a harbinger of the future. (Picture: A Ukrainian serviceman surveys t

In three months, conflict in Ukraine has destroyed parts of the country, hurt Russia's economy, and sent shockwaves across the globe. Countries are experiencing never-before-seen inflation, and a critical lack of supplies is forecast to worsen. Then there's the matter of who should pay for the colossal damage inflicted on towns and cities in Ukraine. At the World Economic Forum in Davos, world leaders are trying to solve the problem. A former Ukranian Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko, gives her view on the true cost.Much of the world's focus is on the outcome of that summit, but there's another one happening in Tokyo which could set the course of Asian trade relations for years to come. The Quad countries - Australia, the US, Japan and India - are meeting to discuss matters like China, inflation in the south of the continent, and a new US-led Pacific trading agreement. Tanvi Madan. Director of the Indian Project at the Brookings Institute, takes us through what to expect.ABC's senior business correspondent Pe