is china's recovery is losing steam? factories in the world's second largest economy slow down. plus we look into why many of the world's largest companies are failing to deliver on their net zero commitments. hello and welcome to asia business report. we begin with china, where factories are slowing down. the official pmi index declined to 49.2 in april, below the 50 points which indicates a contraction in activity. the world's second—largest

economy grew faster than expected in the first quarter thanks to robust consumer spending after lockdowns were lifted. but factory output has lagged due to weak global growth and this latest data raises questions about the sustainability of china's recovery. a market strategist told me these numbers show how uneven china's recovery has been. a pretty dire set of numbers, although services is still an expansion. it has come below expectations, but of course the bigger shock on the manufacturing side, and shows how uneven the recovery is in china. two things worth noting. first, we are coming from a strong first quarter where we had this initial euphoria after the reopening of the economy, as well as some benefit from the chinese new year period. so of course, manufacturers are a little bit downbeat after that initial euphoria has come down.

secondly, my bigger concern is about geopolitics and the impact on making the external demand weaker for china's manufacturing sector. we need to monitor that, because those are potentially the structural changes which will impact china over the longer run. but for now, we could see more stimulus measures, the politburo statement that came out on friday already hinted at that, saying they are noting weaker savings and weaker spending and investment as well. so that does signal the chinese economy will be geared up with some amount of stimulus measures for now. we are seeing reports that a deal to rescue the first republic bank is imminent. us regulators have reportedly asked six banks to bid for the embattled lender. their shares plunged last week after it admitted that customers had withdrawn $100

billion in deposits in march. if customers had withdrawn $100 billion in deposits in march. at that time, its competitor silicon valley bank had collapsed wanting fears of a crisis. that was swiftly followed by the demise of another us lender, signature bank. we were joined by thomas hayes for his take on what to expect from a rescue deal. we are going to see what happens tonight, either they get a deal, citizens and jp morgan and others were invited to bid. usb and bank of america declined the opportunity. the odds are on a receivership and then a bid for the assets. if they do a deal, it will be at a very small level. they have lost $22 billion of market cap. to your earlier point, when you see a bank fail like silicon valley bank, you can say it was management, they didn't hedge their risks,

but then you saw signature bank, silver day capital and now first republic, and it all points to a common denominator. the fed has moved to aggressively and quickly, steepest hiking cycle in a0 years and things are starting to break, so they have to ease off, and this comes at the perfect time considering we have the fed meeting on wednesday. you make that point, of course. the fact you are seeing this spill—over in the wider banking sector — how concerned are you about the health of other us banks against this backdrop? well, you have 46% of deposits in the united states that are still uninsured. the thing that would seal this up right away is if the executive branch, which has the ability to do so in times of emergency, would step in and say, we're going to do a temporary backstop on all deposits for the next 2a months, until congress can get together and increase the fdic insurance maybe from 250,000 to 500,000. that would probably quell some of the problems. banks in general, certainly the larger banks,

are very well capitalised. it's nothing like 2008. for paul volcker. the problem, if you look at the history of what paul volcker did, he stopped hiking rates and even started cutting rates in 1982, while inflation was still above 6%. why did he do that with inflation still so high? it's because he understood the lagged effect of an aggressive tightening policy that he did in previous months. powell really needs to come to that conclusion, even though inflation hasn't met his targets, that he can pause, assess the data over the next few months, if he needs to go back to hiking, he can do so. but when you start to see things to break, it's time to pause. if he did, he would see a big

settling in the banking system. not that i'm trying to defend chair powell, but can we blame all of this on higher interest rates, thomas? isn't it also down to the fact that regulation isn't as tight as it could be in the united states, and that has been an issue for the banking sector as well? i certainly wouldn't blame it on the loosening of policy that you saw in recent years. that was not impactful as it relates to these four. was the supervision a bit lax in san francisco? yes. in signature bank? yes. but there were warning signs. this is a symptom of the steepest hiking cycle in the last a0 years, and you just can't knock the problem, you have all these deposits from all the stimulus during the pandemic, you got them all at once, at the exact worst time to reinvest, when rates were effectively zero. and these banks did not do any cowboy type of investment. they weren't reaching for crazy things.

if you look at silicon valley bank, it had 5.7 years duration in us treasuries. so they forced these deposits from the stimulus checks into the banks, which had to invest them. maybe they could have been slightly lower duration, but they have to make some income. it's the unintended consequence of the plan to obviously get a hold of inflation, but inflation has been coming down since lastjuly and it's time to let it work through the system. thomas hayes. arm is pressing ahead with its much anticipated ipo. no details about the size of the offering, but softbank has been targeting this listing since its deal to sell the chip designer to nvidia for $40

billion collapse last year because of objections from us and european anti—trust regulators. let's talk about sustainability, and the goals set around that. more than a third of the world's largest companies have made a commitment to net zero. a recent report says nearly all of them will fail if they don't pick up the pace by 2030. in big businesses, we have learned that impacts from supply chain account for more than 80% of greenhouse gas emissions. so how can firms decarbonise effectively, especially those with extensive supply chain networks? the chief executive of a consultancy that helps businesses calculate their carbon footprint and find ways to reduce them told me earlier that supply chains are at the centre of corporate carbon emissions. just eight supply chains globally account for more than 50% of the world greenhouse gas emissions. what you start to see in large enterprises, the minute there is a supply chain involved, the indirect

emissions coming from the supply chain are nearly 85, sometimes 90% of the total emissions. what this means for corporates, there's almost no escaping putting a really tight lens on how to decarbonise the supply chain. gone are the days that you could say, i worry about the operations and i take accountability for my operations. what the supply chain does, i can't really control. so this is why we see companies go down two journeys, really. the journey of data and being able to get better connected, better visibility into their supply chain. but at the same time, also thinking about specific decarbonisation approaches. whether it is responsible procurement, thinking about renewable energy or many others. which industries are you seeing these trends in, any particular industry that surprises you, for instance? the big industries, everything on food to consumer

products to agriculture, construction etc. the top eight supply chains that we think the world should be hyper focused on decarbonisation. some of the surprises often come from thinking about the fact that companies actually today have all the technologies they need to be able to decarbonise and get to at least their 2030 goals. and yet you see inertia in getting started down that process. this is why we think applying a technology approach to this challenge is very helpful to get to those net zero plans. elon musk says twitter will take a 10% cut on content subscriptions after a year. people will be able to offer their subscribers to longform content. it's an attempt to

diversify revenue sources. that is it for asia business report, thank you forjoining me, stay with bbc news and i will see you tomorrow. at 91 years old, norma is a cycling down familiar roads. as she peddles on this adapted exercise bike, the screen takes her to where she grew up. this venture is all about getting older people moving and stimulating the brain. seeing her home town, norma is reminded of the tradition of throwing hot pennies from a hotel balcony. get them first. were you good at getting them? not really! were you good at getting them? not reall ! , were you good at getting them? not reall ! _ ., not really! run by digital communities _ not really! run by digital communities wales, - not really! run by digital communities wales, the | not really! run by digital- communities wales, the project bridges the gap between

generations. local sixth form pupils adapted four of these bikes as part of a one—day technology challenge. they will now be used in care homes across the island. we now be used in care homes across the island.— now be used in care homes across the island. we got given across the island. we got given a blueprint. — across the island. we got given a blueprint, an _ across the island. we got given a blueprint, an exercise - across the island. we got given a blueprint, an exercise bike i a blueprint, an exercise bike with modifications we've made, implemented the code, tiny computers so it can do what it does. �* , ., ., computers so it can do what it does. �*, ., ., ., ., does. it's another occasion to brin: does. it's another occasion to bring peeple _ does. it's another occasion to bring people together. - does. it's another occasion to | bring people together. people can talk— bring people together. people can talk about their background, when they were growing _ background, when they were growing up. background, when they were growing urn-— background, when they were rurowin u. ., .,y ., , growing up. that memory lane is alwa s growing up. that memory lane is alwaysiust _ growing up. that memory lane is always just a _ growing up. that memory lane is alwaysjust a short _ growing up. that memory lane is alwaysjust a short ride - growing up. that memory lane is alwaysjust a short ride away. -

spike the king penguin is now king of the world, voted most popular penguin in an international online voting competition. and that's despite his past misdemeanours. he pooed on sir david attenborough nearly ten years ago. he is a local celebrity definitely. 32 penguins competed for the title, the contest was organised by penguin international, a lobby group aiming to raise awareness of the birds' plight. you are going to be sent a paper crown as a prize, will you be putting it on spike? no, he wouldn't tolerate it at all. i only handle him for vet checks a couple of times a year, putting on wing tags.

otherwise, you try to grab them, they will give you a good old slap with their wing. but there will be a special ceremony to honour spike, it's planned for may 6th, the same day as the coronation. hello. this is the bbc sport centre. coming up on the programme: manchester city return to the top of the premier league with a vital win against fulham. liverpool throw away a three goal lead against tottenham only to score a last minute winner in an action packed day at anfield. and the first ever 147 in a world championship final. it's been a slow burner between brecel and selby in sheffield. hello and thanks forjoining us. here's your latest sports news.

welcome to the programme. we're starting with football and it was a record breaking day for erling haaland as manchester city went back on top of the premier league. they beat fulham 2—1. haaland scoring his 50th goal of the season in all competitions — a stunning achievement and a record that has stood for over 90 years. he also equalled the record for goals in a premier league season with 34. it's the first time city have topped the table since february. they're a point ahead of arsenal who play midweek and they still have a game in hand. three days, four days, it is a lot, but we knew that after beating them at home, knowing that winning this type of game today was really, really important and the players behaved amazingly. on tuesday, arsenal is going to play. normally at home is strong but it is one game at hand and then after that we will be ok. in the first minute of the match against city, it is difficult. we start to have a little bit more balance within the game as well. in some moments, we push them

back, but we were not able to create many chances, but we are competitive.