us central bank chief jerome powell hints that an interest rate cut could be on the table as soon as september, sending wall street higher. facebook parent meta going from strength to strength, as its quarterly results and guidance exceed expectations. hello and welcome to business today. i'm arunoday mukharji. let's begin in the us, where the federal reserve has wrapped up its latest two—day meeting, where policy makers kept the cost of borrowing rate steady between 5.25% to 5.5%. what was noteworthy though were the hints from chairjerome powell that a september interest rate cut could be on the table. those comments from his press conference pushed wall street higher, with all the major

indices closing in the green. the question will be whether the totality of the data, the evolving outlook in the balance of risks — evolving outlook in the balance of risks will rb can —— will be consistent _ of risks will rb can —— will be consistent. but that is met, reduction _ consistent. but that is met, reduction could be on the table _ reduction could be on the table. fixed income fixed our guest, tom porcelli, the chief us economist at pgim fixed income in new york, joins us to discuss what he sees as strong arguments for fed action. i think he indicated clearly that september is the meeting where the bill strikes. inflation data will get to reports between now and then. but the it would have to be a

reason to take a pass at... but he left the door open for that possibility. i think at this point, it does look like inflation is in the midst of slowing down, so i don't think that's a hurdle. i think what they're worried about now is labour. there are certainly some cracks forming in the labour back up and i think that's what they're trying to get ahead of.— that's what they're trying to net ahead of. ,, _, , , get ahead of. our us consumers farinu get ahead of. our us consumers faring under _ get ahead of. our us consumers faring under the _ get ahead of. our us consumers faring under the current - faring under the current interest rate levels? i think it actually _ interest rate levels? i think it actually is _ interest rate levels? i think it actually is starting - interest rate levels? i think it actually is starting to - it actually is starting to clamp down on the backdrop. you can look particularly on the consumer side and you can see that the rates are now on the rise. this diverse started to rise. this diverse started to rise two or three quarters ago. it was really limited to lord lower fica scores. but it's now starting to bleed out to a near prime fica score. you are

starting to see the ad that worries me a bit is that you're starting to see this rise in the link with the rate of unemployment that's still relatively low. i do think these crosscurrents are what is starting to worry to some extent. �* , ., ., ., ., extent. it's hard to alienate the economics _ extent. it's hard to alienate the economics from - extent. it's hard to alienate the economics from the - extent. it's hard to alienate - the economics from the politics as we look at the elections. would you say is an important policy not to decide who the leader is? i policy not to decide who the leader is?— leader is? i think it was re leader is? i think it was pretty clear i _ leader is? i think it was pretty clear i think- leader is? i think it was pretty clear i think this| leader is? i think it was i pretty clear i think this is how they always governed. i don't think that they can make any adjustments to policy knowing that one of the candidates may want to put a lot of tariffs up there. they'll respond to it that happens, but once it does, i think it would... i would encourage people to take a look at the september minutes, because i have a lot of people

talking about all these tariffs, it might stop the fed from continuing cutting. in fact, maybe entertaining raising rates if you have these tariffs. i don't think that's reaction for the fed. if you look at those minutes from september 2019 when trump one —— trump1.0 engaged —— trump 1.0 engaged in this, they were worried more about they were worried more about the growth impact from it. as a result, they started cutting rates. i think what the fed's reaction... earnings season continues in the us, with meta reporting after wall street's closing bell. the firm beat expectations on revenue and profit, sending shares up initially in after—hours trading. the firm's big bets in al were in focus. the bbc�*s north america correspondent erin delmore has more.

the big story intact likely is how investor —— lately is how investors want to know how i i look for to pay out more than taking in. ita lot look for to pay out more than taking in. it a lot of cases, these investments are looking like they're going to be a slow burn and a bit of a cash burn. here's one example. mehta announced that its reality labs posted a nearly four and a half billion dollar loss in the second quarter of the year. reality labs is the unit where meta is developing its technologies. like what we see in the request to be our headset and the ray—ban sunglasses. this brings the total losses to around $50 billion from the endo 2020. those are some hard numbers behind meta ceo's big bets of the metaverse. the firm plans to see more operating losses i had this year. meanwhile, the

company is in advancing meta ai throughout its offering like facebook, instagram and what's mr zuckerberg forecast a payoff in site and said in a statement that meta ai �*s on track to be the most use ais is in the world. let's turn to boeing now — the plane maker has appointed a new chief executive to succeed dave calhoun who's stepping down. kelly 0rtberg, the former head of aerospace supplier rockwell collins, will take over next month as boeing struggles to overcome a series of challenges relating to its safety record and supply chains. the announcement came as boeing reported deepening losses in the second quarter of the year, making a net loss of $1.1; billion. mark martin weighed in.

his perspective helps a lot, and i think what's important is that collins was in a similar situation to boeing, to what boeing is at the moment about 20 years ago. they've come up with a whole new range of products in aerospace. we have a guy here who has stick to the boxes. —— you have ticked he took a major chunk of the market, which was very radical back three orfour years market, which was very radical back three or four years ago. i think it's a big step for boeing, but the big challenge is where does he start? going to get down and dirty and rolled his sleeves up and start fixing the house? we're going to see how he's take this up.

given that boeing has been suffering, i want to get your thoughts giving the developments surrounding boeing. how viable in your opinion is that option? it’s opinion is that option? it's re opinion is that option? it's pretty rough _ opinion is that option? it's pretty rough for— opinion is that option? it�*s pretty rough for boeing at the moment. theyjust managed to secure 50 orders from korea and there will be no takers for the 77 max. asia is growing at a pace at about 18—22%. post—covid, we need aircraft and we need stable reliable aircraft, and it's notjust boeing, dealing with manufacturer issues. carmack is a really aircraft and i think of the five years that it has been flying in asia, it's actually proving to be super reliable. increasingly, i know

garuda and a couple of other airlines are looking at adopting a few to see how it functions and more of that aircraft type. it's promising, but we're also in this insane backdrop of us sanctions on chinese led passenger aircraft. that's something which is a bit of a catch 22 — how does the... carmack has 80% of confidence, including ge, rockwell collins. how do you model your own products? i think there'll be some balance.— products? i think there'll be some balance. ~ ., ., , some balance. what more needs to be done _ some balance. what more needs to be done by — some balance. what more needs to be done by boeing _ some balance. what more needs to be done by boeing and - some balance. what more needs to be done by boeing and how i to be done by boeing and how long do you expect these losses to continue, very briefly? boeing needs to get into his house, fix its process, get out there, win back the confidence of the traveller. airlines, pilots, flight attendants, engineers. boeing at the moment

is an embarrassment. 0nce engineers. boeing at the moment is an embarrassment. once you fix and sort that out, it's not a pr exercise. you really have to fix the house. that will lead to orders. boeing has always been a good traditional manufacturer. the last 15 years have been lousy and you have to work hard to get those orders back. before arrigo, quick update cro is being for the global outage earlier this month. in a class—action suit, shall hurlers say the company's insurance —— a assu ra nces assurances are misleading. it caused the share price to seek over 32%. caused the share price to seek over32%. it caused the share price to seek over 32%. it wiped $25 million. and that's it for this

edition of business today. thanks very much for watching. stay with bbc news.

hey, i'm lola with the catch up. tonight, unis told to step up an epic day at the olympics up, an epic day at the olympics and panda gymnastics. but first, unis in england have been told to step up efforts to protect students from sexual harassment. the watchdog says it will introduce new standards, which includes training for staff and students on what harassment is, having proper reporting systems and a ban on using non—disclosure agreements. it stopped short of a total ban on relationships between staff members and students. so, what do students think? here's molly. i've spoken to a student today who told me she was sexually assaulted on her first day of freshers' week. she said she didn't report it because she didn't

think anything would be done about it. she told me unis need to do more to protect students, and that staff and students need to understand exactly what sexual harassment is and what consent really means. if you've been affected by any of these issues, just search for bbc action line to find help and support. to the olympics and team gb are celebrating two drama field gold medals one minutes apart. medals —— won minutes apart. the gb rowers took gold in the final moments of the women's quad sculls, and alex yi got an epic win in the men's triathlon. kieran reilly won silver in one of my fave sports to watch time now for 10 seconds of cuteness overload! two adorable giant pandas in china are showing the olympic gymnasts how to do it with their seriously good moves and balance on a panda tower. i mean, look at that perfect balance.

so cute! you're all caught up now. have a great night. hello and welcome along to sportsday. i'm gavin ramjaun. majestic leon marchand thrills the home crowd, with a two golds, on an historic night for him in men's swimming. a piece of history for america and katie ledecky, too — as she sets an olympic record in the women's 1500m freestyle. and japan continue to dominate in the men's gymnastics — but it's not the man you'd expect bringing home the gold in the all—around. hello and welcome along to the programme.

it's been all about leon marchand in the pool