it is not overjust yet. worries about us regional lenders are spread on wall street. we will have the latest on the banking crisis. and it is not all doom and gloom on wall street. apple joins other tech giants in announcing quarterly results that beat expectations. hello and welcome to asia business report. our top story for you today: fears about the health of us regional banks are spreading on wall street. the bank at the centre of those concerns right now is pac west. its

shares ended up more than 50% after it confirmed it was exploring strategic options including a possible sale. but pac west isn't alone, and shares of other mid—size and small banks are also taking hit. our north america business correspondent has more on what is driving this. us regional bank stocks suffered more sizeable losses on thursday despite assurances from the head of america's central bank, saying that the us financial system remains sound. leading the way was pac west, which saw its share price halved yet again, which means since the start of the week, its stock is now worth about a quarter of its value. also trailing we saw first horizon and the western alliance. those stocks under pressure, and the value of those shares falling more than 30%. what is driving some of this is higher interest rates. that has meant that they have had to write down the value of some of their

assets that are sensitive to rising interest rates, then you have the fact that there are slightly less supervisions then we saw in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis will stop in recent years, there has been a sense that may be mid—sized banks didn't need quite so much scrutiny, but of course, that is now becoming something of an issue. add to that, people who are holding deposits within these institutions, once they get nervous, they are moving faster to withdraw their funds and switch to withdraw their funds and switch to another bank than we have seen historically, and that is kind of amplifying the problem we are seeing, and it is notjust customers who are also kind of getting a bit nervous. you are also seeing investors pulling their money. they are sort of looking around regional bank stocks thinking, who will be next? even when, in some cases, that is not warranted. for example, take western alliance. they actually said the number of deposits they have, in other words, the number of customer

funds they have, has actually increased this week in the wake of the collapse of first republic, and yet that stock is still under pressure. so it appears that there is no end in sight for this turmoil. people are asking what that means for the broader economy, and all of this against a backdrop of the head of the federal reserve, jerome powell, saying that the us financial system at least for now remains sound and resilient. michelle fleury reporting for us. but it is not all doom and gloom on wall street, because apple's shares are up almost 2% in extended trading after they announced a profit boost that exceeded expectations. it is fuelled by their weight iphone sales, particularly in emerging markets such as india. discussing the results, apple's ceo tim cook said that supply chain problems which had plagued the company following the covid pandemic had now vanished. this follows better—than—expected earnings from many of apple's appears in the us tax base, raising hopes that the

worst might be over for the sector. apple remains one of the few giants in the industry, no mass lay—offs so far. for more on the outlook for the company, we can now speak tojeff field hack, from counterpoint chemical research, whojoins me. nice to have you back, jeff. what do you make of the results? yes, i thought the results were very impressive, because the overall smartphone market was down 14% during the quarter, and apple's revenues were up a little. we think their overall volumes may have been down one or 2%, but a great performance when a lot of the other both chip and smartphone oem ats have been talking about lots of headwinds and also large inventory is. how important you think both china and india are to apple's story going forward? and if you can say one is more important in the future?

yes, well, for some time, china will be much, much larger, and the esps within china are going up to where apple, the starting point of capture apple, the starting point of capture apple designs, so it's, for overall sales, for some time, china will be more important. however, the growth story has been india. for many years, i%, i.5%, was allapple story has been india. for many years, i%, i.5%, was all apple could hope for, and now we are to high single digits, and more importantly, is the manufacturing aspect. i think with more manufacturing, we are estimating about 6% of iphones are now built in india, there is a higher amount are built there, i think apple's brand will become more powerful and they will potentially be a secondary market opened to india. so medium and long term, india. so medium and long term, india is probably the stronger growth market.

fascinating stuff, jeff, and how much is inflation hitting consumer spending in the product line for apple? definitely the macs, the ipads end of the highway, their thinking is that iphone is such a vital device —— maker of the ipads and other devices. the iphone is one that we need for working and living, and is a little more stable than other areas, which are down. and so far, apple has really done a lot better than the market on the smartphone side. jeff fieldhack from counterpoint research great to get you on the show. japan is wrapping up a week—long holiday also known as golden week, and it comes as the japanese covenant ended its covid—i9 border controls for all visitors just ahead of the holidays. it looks like the lifting of those measures as giving a boost to tourism. snapshots from social media appear to show big crowds at popular spots. so what is going on, and how is the golden week

spiering on the economy ofjapan? we can speak now to our guest. lovely to have you on the programme, nabuko. what is your sense of how the tourism programme is boosting the tourism programme is boosting the japanese economy? yes, the season is in full swing, and we have seen a big increase. fine and we have seen a big increase. one auen and we have seen a big increase. ole: agency estimates and we have seen a big increase. (me: agency estimates japanese and we have seen a big increase. iez agency estimates japanese travellers are up from 53% last year to 25 million, and inbound travellers, foreigners coming into japan, are four times compared to last year. when you look at the overall growth outlook for the japanese economy, given what has been happening in the world right now, fears of inflation and rising interest rates, of course. i knowjapan is a different situation. what is your outlook for japan? well, the outlook is moderate growth forjapan, and any inflation is hitting japan, but also at a lower rate than compared to other western

nations, so it's about [i%, but there is a lot of pressure into the price increase, including also the wage increase. so it will be a competition or most of the wage increase, catching up with the price increase. —— a competition almost of the wage increase catching up with a price increase. it is interesting when you talk about very wage increase in price increase. going forward, is it your sense that both of those may be depressed going forward in the future? it has been depressed, but it will be a little bit of a different scenario going forward, because a lot of the major companies are announcing the wage increase from this year, and in tandem with the price increase. so the labour shortages another tailwind pushing for the wage increase. and briefly, if you don't mind, when you look to the horizon of next year, what is your outlook for the japanese economy? i think a big question is on the bank ofjapan�*s new i think a big question is on the bank of japan's new policy. we have a new governor after a decade, so

whether the new governor will instil a little bit of an exit ramp from the super—expensive monetary policy will be an upward influence in the interest rate and also the currency. that was nabuko kobayashi of ey talking as to how the golden week spiering on the japanese economy, and lots more in—depth analysis on our website as always. on the japanese economy and other economies, visual. for now, thanks forjoining us from all around the world and in the uk. you're watching bbc news.

good evening. the polls are closed, and our politicians may be getting nervous waiting for the verdict of millions of you who have been voting today in this year's council elections. power's up for grabs, and reputations are on the line. rishi sunak became prime minister in the autumn after the turmoil that brought down borisjohnson and saw off liz truss. but in a year, mr sunak might be fighting a general election. what will the public say about him and his party tonight? sir keir starmer spent this morning bashing the phones and reminding people to vote. he's been miles ahead in the opinion polls —

but now real ballots have been cast, can he rely on the same support?