decision time at the fed — we take a look at the us economy and whether there's need for a change in policy. and we'll have the latest on china's long labour day break and the revival of chinese tourism. hello and welcome to asia business report. i'm karishma vaswani. our top story today — will the us federal reserve raise rates one more time? or will it take a break? as the fed meets to decide whether to raise interest rates again, rising prices aren't their only worry. the turbulence at first republic this week has revived concerns

about credit conditions. major us stock indexes fell more than 1% each on tuesday. shares in several regional banks in the us have dropped sharply, as investors fear the banking crisis is not over. another area of concern is the labour market, which, while still strong, is showing signs of cooling. so what will america's central bank do and say? the bbc�*s michelle fleury reports from westchester, new york. losing momentum after nine rate hikes in the past year. the federal reserve�*s efforts to cool the us economy are having an effect. this is a chain that you'll see on like roller shades and vertical blinds. something bill, who runs a family owned manufacturing business in westchester, new york, is seeing first—hand. right now, we're expecting some softness in the marketplace for probably six months or so. we're seeing a lot of softness in the marketplace as far as demand, the commitment in terms of like long—term blanket orders with customers. we're not seeing that either right now. so we're having some challenges with that. american businesses are pulling

back on spending and hiring. the housing market is slowing both areas sensitive — to changes in interest rates. and more pain may be coming. america's central bank was tipped to raise rates again this week, in what was expected to be its last hike for a while. but after the collapse this week of first republic bank, some are speculating it may already be done, with the fed having to manage inflation growth and now financial stability concerns. slowing the economy too much could lead to a recession. and with inflation moderating and problems with us regional banks still unresolved, america's central bank may feel that, after this week, it's time to hit pause to see if, after nine rate hikes, they've done enough. one thing they will be watching the cost of food. while products like eggs have come down in price, they remain historically high. one us economist says the inflation fight has yet to be won.

i don't think the inflation battle is over, but we are in a situation in which we're seeing gradual disinflation. so inflation is slowing and we're also in an environment where interest rates are high and elevated, and therefore constraining business activity, which should lead to further disinflation in the coming months. so darren mentioned the r word. fear of a recession is very much present in the economy today. and the political risks are growing, too. president biden and republicans in congress are on a collision course over raising the debt ceiling, the limit on how much the us can borrow. failure to do so would not only inflict economic pain here, but also on the rest of the globe. michelle fleury, bbc news, westchester, new york. staying with central bank decisions. the reserve bank of australia raised its key rate on tuesday. the move stunned the markets and analysts, who were expecting an extended pause. australia's central bank said

inflation was way too high and warned that there could be further rate hikes. the bank's governor acknowledged that inflation is now past its peak, but it will take a while for it to fall back into the bank's target range of 2—3%. indian low—cost carrier go first filed for bankruptcy owing to severe cashflow crunch. the airline has blamed its us engine supplier pratt & whitney for not supplying working engines, which resulted in the airline's downfall. india business correspondent archana shukla filed this report. from planning an ipo early last year to filing for bankruptcy. go first�*s story has really changed. the airline had been cash strapped for much of last year as nearly half of its aircrafts are grounded, 25 out of 61 airbus aircrafts — reason, faulty engines. now, these aircrafts are powered by engines exclusively supplied

by pratt & whitney, and most of those have been faulty. company says the engine supplier refused to comply with an order to release engines or even supply serviceable spares. with further engine failure expected in the next three to four months, airline operations will be made unviable. it has, in fact, also filed a complaint in a us court against the engine maker. now, with almost half its fleet unavailable, it has meant frequent flight cancellations. it has meant a drop in share in the indian aviation market, which has seen fierce competition and new players. airline says it has lost over $1.3 billion. some of its planes have been repossessed by lessors on non—payment of dues. it may be facing fuel payment issues as well since it was moved to cash and carry by oil companies. local reports say the airline has cancelled most of its flights for the next three days, starting third of may. the airline is owned by a prominent corporate family, the wadia group here in india. and in fact, last year they were looking and talking to possible investors to sell stake and raise funds owing to the crunch.

but no luck so far. it's also important to note because go first is not the only airline affected by faulty pratt & whitney engines and the supply glitch. another low cost carrier, indigo, is also stuck. between the two of them, 60 aircrafts are grounded for lack of spare parts. and in fact, that forced the country's aviation regulator to take note last month and seek solutions as well. in china, it's the last day of an extended time off. a one—day labour day holiday observed in many countries is actually a five—day break in china. it's the first ultra—long weekend since the spring festival in january and authorities had forecasted increased travel across different modes of transportation. chinese consumers are still holding back. we have seen very strong domestic tourist traffic across

the board, and whether you look at in terms of the number of trains that have been operating, single day rail tickets, as well as domestic tourist ticket sales. whether that has translated into equally strong consumption growth remains unclear, because there've been anecdotes of some consumers trading down during the season, and when we look at the movie box office as another example, we also see slightly weaker than forecast activity as well. so, we continue to keep a close eye, but all in all very strong traffic numbers, and domestic travel is definitely much stronger than international travel. probably because of aircraft and crew availability remaining limited at this point. how concerned are you about unemployment rates? particularly amongst the youth. how is that connected with those consumer figures you were talking about?

great question. unemployment rate has been quite high, as high as around 20% for the younger demographics. i think this will certainly put a blip on consumption growth for the country. that is now heavily reliant on consumption to drive gdp growth this year. for the time being, we continue to see the younger generation spending, but as opposed to the trend of spending up, there are increasing signs of trading down by these young consumers. so, i think this certainly would have some negative implications on long—term consumption outlook for china, and chinese authorities are paying close attention to it. during a politburo meeting last friday, we heard news of the authorities trying

to boost employment of the younger demographics by state—owned enterprises. so hopefully that development with improve our overall consumption outlook for the country. what is your outlook for the chinese economy in terms of growth this year? we are cautiously optimistic on the country's gdp outlook. we do think that there is a chance for the country to exceed the official gdp growth target of 5%, zooming in on the earnings season in corporate america. starbucks season in corporate america. shares are down mor than starbucks shares are down more than 5% after they did not lift 2023 guidance. they beat wall street estimates for profits and comparable sales in the quarter ending in march. the us coffee giant saw a 7% increase in global sales, which were helped

by the economic recovery in china we've been telling you about. the company decided to reaffirm its forward guidance because of what it described as an uncertain global environment. and ford motor has also posted strong quarterly revenue and profit. its results were boosted by strong demand for trucks and suvs. but losses in its electric vehicle unit meant the us car—maker's outlook for the rest of the year was not as positive. ford's chief executive officer said the company does not intend to pursue ev sales "at any cost". that's after the auto company slashed prices for its mustang mach e for a second time this year. tinder and hinge tinderand hinge are tinder and hinge are stopping operating in russia. they will withdraw from the russian market completely by the end of june, after many global firms cut ties with russia after the

invasion in february 2022. thanks for watching. at 91 years old, norma deeves is cycling down familiar roads. as she pedals on this adaptive exercise bike, the screen takes her to beaumaris, where she grew up. this venture is all about getting older people moving and stimulating the brain. seeing her hometown, norma is reminded of the tradition of throwing hot pennies from a hotel balcony. the kids were going mad, you know, to get them first, to get them. were you good at getting them? not really, no. run by digital communities wales and supported by anglesey council, the project also bridges the gap between generations. local sixth form pupils

adapted four of these bikes as part of a one—day technology challenge. they'll now be used in care homes across the island. we give them a blueprint of what they were, so basic exercise bike, but we've made modifications to it, implemented code, macro, like, little tiny computers to make it to where it can do what it does. it's another occasion to bring people together. people can talk about their background when they were growing up. that memory lane is always just a short ride away. wrexham celebrations, the latest from the met gala and a very big surprise. you might

have seen the chatbot on snapchat going viral recently. you can have a full on conversation with it. some people find it pretty creepy. it follows chatgpt. man described the god via godfather of artificial intelligence has quit google saying he regrets his work and warns about how it is used. , ., ., is used. given the rate of progress. _ is used. given the rate of progress. we _ is used. given the rate of progress, we expect - is used. given the rate of. progress, we expect things is used. given the rate of- progress, we expect things to get better quite fast so we need to worry about that. right now they are not more intelligent than us as far as i can tell but i think they soon may be. fix, can tell but i think they soon ma be. �* ., may be. a quick look at the world of— may be. a quick look at the world of fashion. _ may be. a quick look at the world of fashion. not - may be. a quick look at the world of fashion. not from | may be. a quick look at the - world of fashion. not from me, from the met gala in new york. this year it paid homage to their late karl lagerfeld and his cat. dojo cat dressed up as a cat, and jared leto also dressed up as a chat. this guy gate—crashed the red carpet,

not a chat. the celebrations continue, fans in wrexham are celebrating the men's teen getting promoted back to the english football league after 15 years. i'm going to leave you with ten seconds of surprise, and that's exactly what this head teacher got after investigating a noise in after investigating a noise in a bin in the us. principal james marsh said he and the bear were both equally surprised. join us to celebrate the coronation of king charles and queen camilla. a weekend of special events, including live

coverage of the coronation service at westminster abbey, and front row seats to the coronation concert featuring some of the biggest acts in music. celebrate the coronation with us on bbc one and bbc iplayer. hello, i'm qasa alom, from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: the gunners fire themselves back to the top of the premier league table with a 3—1 win over chelsea. fifa president gianni infantino threatens a women's world cup broadcast blackout unless countries are prepared to bid more money. and australia's star batsman steve smith says he's in england to help his county sussex, not prepare for the ashes. hello and thanks for joining us, here's your

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