big tech's stellar performance — amazon joins fellow technology giants delivering surprisingly strong quarterly results. and is the world's largest economy headed for a recession? we break down the latest economic growth data from the us. hello and welcome to asia business report. i'm karishma vaswani. we begin with amazon because the us tech giant has just reported results confirming that the technology sector is firing on all cylinders. shares in the the e—commerce

and cloud computing giant ——it continues a trend in big tech set out this week by the likes of meta, microsoft and alphabet whose latest results show that they're all doing surprising well. this has lifted markets across the board. lisa -- lisa —— we saw similar on wall street. here's the bbc�*s samira hussain. over the last year, amazon has been aggressively cutting costs to help boost profitability. it's laid off 18,000 people and is currently about to eliminate another 9000 jobs. is currently about to eliminate another 9000jobs. it is currently about to eliminate another 9000 jobs. it would appear that some of those measures are already paying off, as the retail giant posted earnings that beat investor expectations. amazon's cloud computing business which didn't go as much as expected last quarter did very well in the first three months of this year, as did its advertising business. even retail, a core

part of amazons business exceeded expectations. the boom in online shopping during the pandemic has waned, and people are going back into stories, but amazon was still able to get customers to its website, as recent figures show, consumer spending in america remains steady. what has investors really cheering is amazon's guidance for the next quarter. it expects its business to grow between five and 10%. ~ . and 10%. mehta ended the session nearly _ and 10%. mehta ended the session nearly 1496 - and 10%. mehta ended the session nearly 14% higher, i session nearly 14% higher, after the facebook parent reporting its first sales increase in nearly a year end sales forecast coming in above market expectations. this concerns the view —— confirms the view that they are betting on well—established platform such as facebook and instagram in the face of challenging economic conditions as we have been reporting. concerns have led mehta and other tech trends to embark on a cost—cutting campaign that has so far resulted 150,000 lay—offs across the sector.

one tech firm that hasn't performed all that well in the last quarter is intel. the company reported its la rgest—ever quarterly loss. revenue fell 36% to 11.7—billion—dollars. despite that, it was still slightly above wall street estimates. the chip—maker has faced a slump in demand for semiconductors.. but there are early signs of a recovery across the global chip sector. and snap has also disappointed. shares in the the social media company are down nearly 18—percent in extended trading. revenue for the first quarter was just under 990—million dollars.. down from 1.06—billion—dollars in the same period last year. changes to snap�*s advertising platform hurt demand for ads. the snapchat parent warned results in the next quarter may again fall below targets. now, let's a take a step back from the tech sector and take a look at the wider look at the us economy which did slow down quite a bit

in the first quarter. the world's largest economy grew 1.1% on an annualised basis between january and march. all eyes are now on what the us federal reserve will do at its meeting next week. the annual rate of inflation has slowed to 5% in march. that's the lowest in nearly 2 years but still well above the fed's 2% target. for a deep dive into the us economy and what the latest gdp performance means for asia, we're joined now by aditya bhave from the bank of america. the details of the framework were actually quite encouraging. there was a bit of drag on inventory, but that tends to be more volatile component of gdp. if we look at the final domestic demand, that was up 3.2% driven by robust consumer spending growth, investment didn't slow down quite as much as we were expecting. government expending accelerated as well. so the details were pretty good. in details were pretty good. in terms of your outlook and concerns about a recession, are those overblown? do you see

growth strengthening in the future? ~ growth strengthening in the future? . , , growth strengthening in the future? ., , , ., future? we actually still have a recession _ future? we actually still have a recession in _ future? we actually still have a recession in our— future? we actually still have a recession in our forecast i a recession in ourforecast starting in the third quarter. the reason for that is that although consumer spending was very strong on a quarterly basis, 3.7%, a lot of that was front—loaded. there was a surge in spending injanuary and sequentially, the spending has dropped. so february was weaker injanuary, and it looks like march was probably bigger than february as well. so the outlook for the consumer for the rest of the year is quite marked. but the rest of the economy and nonconsumer sectors, fixed investment, manufacturing, there was are all relatively weak and some of those sectors are probably in recession as well. it is a mild recession as well. it is a mild recession that we have in our forecast, but it is a recession and it's starting in the third quarter. and it's starting in the third auarter. , ., ., quarter. does that mean inflation — quarter. does that mean inflation will _ quarter. does that mean inflation will finally - quarter. does that mean inflation will finally start | quarter. does that mean i inflation will finally start to get to the levels that the us fed wants it to? the rate tightening cycle might be coming to an end?-

coming to an end? yes, i recession _ coming to an end? yes, i recession would - coming to an end? yes, i recession would be - coming to an end? yes, i l recession would be helpful coming to an end? yes, i - recession would be helpful in bringing inflation back down to target. that's essentially what the fed has tried to engineer, not the recession per se, but they tried to slow the economy down in order to weaken demand, which is what they can do and get inflation back under control. the problem is that inflation has a lagging variable, so first we will have to cease some weakness in the economy, then in our view, by the end of this year, we will be hopefully in the low threes, and by the end of next year, we could get back to target. speaking to me earlier about the outlook for the us economy. let's turn to india because its smartphone market has recorded its sharpest ever first quarter decline with shipments to the country falling by 19%. the bbc�*s arunoday mukharji has more details on why this is happening. this is according to global agency counterpoints market to

monitor service, and the reason for this decline are they are attributed to sluggish demand to a high inventory build up from last year that was carried on to this year as well as consumers growing preference for refurbished phones. this was the third second quarterly decline in smartphone shipments. the trend is that demand for phones are now concentrated around promotional periods. studies found many sellers were focusing on dispensing with existing inventory rather than creating a fresh inventory of new models. what's interesting is that 56 models. what's interesting is that 5g smartphones seem to be picking up crossing the 40% mark for the first time as consumers upgraded to 5g services. according to the research, south korea's samsung has the largest market share with 20% followed by a series of chinese smartphone companies. they have always dominated the market and have been more popular in india because of their affordability, especially compared to premium brands like apple. indy is home

to nearly 800 million smartphone users and has been one of the most lucrative markets worldwide. well, more than a year into russia's invasion of ukraine, energy prices have remained on the upside, and the same goes for liquefied natural gas, or lng for short. if you're a customer in europe. at 21—month lows. but here in asia, lng prices have been hovering at 21—month lows. as demand remain weak in key markets like japan, and china. l—n—g is used in a variety of ways — including cooking and generating electricity. leslie palti—guzman is head of the energy market intelligence provider gas vista. she explained why prices came down from the peak last year when the crisis started. we have seen _ when the crisis started. - have seen energy prices coming down from their peak when the war between ukraine and what... russia started. when the range of 12 dollars between asia and in europe, and prices are

weaker than they were last year around the same period. in asia, we have seen a top tank inventory, and that is one of the reasons also we have seen less appetite for this. the weather is responsible, part of it, we have seen a slow recovery for economic reasons. also china is dependent on russia for its gas supply both by lng. it had increased its report from other sources. picking up on china, there were high expectations that as the chinese economy reopens in this post pandemic era, we would see a bump in a lot of commodities, but that does not necessarily happening when it comes to lng. talk me through why that is the case. it talk me through why that is the case. , , , case. it is very interesting, in the first _ case. it is very interesting, in the first quarter - case. it is very interesting, in the first quarter to - case. it is very interesting, in the first quarter to see l in the first quarter to see that china has reloaded many cargoes, which is the date

indicated of continued weakness, and that data shows that 17 cargoes have been reloaded to china to be sent elsewhere, probably to markets that had hired in the end but also higher prices, and as a result, chinese companies get benefits out of it. so they are probably taking more affordable or cheaper russian gas and reselling more expensive lng to markets in europe, for instance.— markets in europe, for instance. �* ., , ., instance. and do you see that trend continuing _ instance. and do you see that trend continuing in _ instance. and do you see that trend continuing in the - instance. and do you see that trend continuing in the short. trend continuing in the short term? 50 trend continuing in the short term? ., , ., term? so we have seen that china has — term? so we have seen that china has diversified - term? so we have seen that china has diversified a - term? so we have seen that china has diversified a lot i term? so we have seen that china has diversified a lot of it supplies and contracts, probably it is playing also between pipeline and lng, and right now we see that the appetite is not strong enough to justify the country to take all its imports. and we see that continuing for at least the next quarter.— that continuing for at least the next quarter. leslie, head ofthe the next quarter. leslie, head of the market _ the next quarter. leslie, head of the market intelligence - of the market intelligence provider speaking to me a little earlier. that brings us

to the end of the asia business report this hour. thank you so much forjoining. saint andrews is no ordinary parish church. inside is a remarkable collection of mediaeval tombs.- remarkable collection of mediaeval tombs. this is a church of— mediaeval tombs. this is a church of national- mediaeval tombs. this is a - church of national importance. we have behind you the tomb of elizabeth, sister to edward iv and richard iii.— elizabeth, sister to edward iv and richard iii. peppered with calls infestation _ and richard iii. peppered with calls infestation of _ and richard iii. peppered with| calls infestation of deathwatch beatles threatens the survival of these extraordinary relics from an infestation of deathwatch beatles threatens the survival of these extraordinary relics, feasting in damp conditions, the beatles are notoriously destructive. so are notoriously destructive. so a specialist esteem of conservatives from cambridge are now working to save them.

the problem is, the grubs have a ten year up to a ten year lifecycle, just munching their way through the would before they hatch into beatles, so what we will be doing is initially treating and then we will have to come back and have a look to see how it is going. hiya. i'm jo snell with the catch up. it's estimated that just 180 out of 1.5 million football academy players in england make it as a professional in the premier league. so what happens to those who don't make it? liverpool's trent alexander—arnold is launching an initiative focused on providing career opportunities to former academy players. seeing first hand the struggles and the difficulties that players have when they're released from football clubs, and i think it's gone on too long.

and now it's time for change. some other stories now. a consultation into gambling could mean that younger gamblers could face lower limits and greater protections, such as a stake limit of e2 on online slot machines. the government has said that 18 to 2a year olds may be a particularly vulnerable cohort. snapchat�*s new feature, my ai can answer questions, offer advice or help plan trips, but it's received mixed reviews. unhappy us snappers have flooded the apple app store with one star reviews. snap says the vast majority are enjoying it. anyone for a cheese toastie? you might want to check if you can afford it because the cost of the ingredients two slices of white bread, a serving of butter and cheddar has risen to 40p. that's a 37% increase. time now to leave you with 10 seconds of island life because a british wildlife group are looking to employ someone here on gough island.

you'll need to spend the next 13 months observing birds. but it has no permanent population. some terrible weather and you wouldn't be able to eat fresh food for a year. you're all caught up now. have a good night.

hello and thanks for joining us, here's your latest sports news. coming up... the newcastle united's retail season continues. for more goals against everton and a top four position all but secure it. every ten are in real danger of relegation. barcelona are back in the women's champions league final. they beat a spirited chelsea 2—1 on aggregate. mark allen claims the first session of the world soccer championship semifinal against mark selby five frames to three. hello, thanks for joining hello, thanks forjoining us. here is your latest sports news. everton face a huge task to stay in the premier league following a 412 fashion by

newcastle united. newcastle