the wallet industry. hello, i'm steve lai. welcome to business today. let's begin in the united states, where stock markets have reached new records. the dowjones industrial average and s&p 500 have hit new highs, even after a weaker—than—expected consumer confidence reading. our north america business correspondent michelle fleury has the latest from new york. the dowjones industrial average rose 84 points, marking its fourth record close in a row. the s&p 500 was up three tenths of a percent to hit its 41st record close of the year, whilst the nasdaq rallied six tenths of a percent. now, consumer confidence suffered its biggest one—month decline in more than three years. the data followed a warning from jp morgan chase ceo jamie dimon about geopolitical instability getting worse. meanwhile, visa's share price fell more than 5% after

the usjustice department sued america's largest card network, accusing the company of illegally monopolising the debit card market and driving up prices for businesses and consumers. lifting us financial markets, well, there was a sharp rise in al darling nvidia's stock price. that was after the company said its ceo, jensen huang, was done selling stock in the chip maker for now. and china's wave of stimulus to jolt its ailing economy, well, that also boosted us stocks that have exposure to china. so far this week, it has been light on the economic front, with investors still digesting that rate cut from the federal reserve. but on the economic calendar, things should pick up as the week goes forward. as michelle mentioned, the usjustice department has filed a lawsuit against visa. it says the world's largest payments processor illegally stifled competition to maintain a monopoly over the american debit card market, through means like paying off potential competitors.

visa says the claims are "meritless" and added that it will defend itself in court. former cryptocurrency executive caroline ellison has been sentenced to two years in jail for her role in the collapse of ftx. she was convicted for helping her ex—boyfriend, ftx founder sam bankman—fried, steal $8 billion from customers of the now—defunct crypto exchange. ellison had testified against bankman—fried, who is currently serving a 25—year prison sentence forfraud charges. japan's outgoing prime minister fumio kishida has wrapped up his visit to the us, which is also his last overseas trip before he steps down on friday. glen fukushima used to work at the office of the united states trade representative. he told us how japanese businesses are reading the us presidential election. i think that in general, there's a view injapan that kamala harris would probably provide more project ability

and perhaps more stability and continuity, especially with the biden administration. on the other hand, think mr trump, because of his pro—business leanings and promised to cut taxes and regulations and choose federaljudges taxes and regulations and choose federal judges who taxes and regulations and choose federaljudges who are favourable to companies as opposed to unions, some of the business committee injapan perhaps are supportive of mr trump. overall i think because the biden administration, biden harris administration is really focused on international organisations like nato, united nations, the wto and also has focused on allies, in europe as well as in asia, i think overall there's a general... there was a public opinion poll really that the japanese public, by something like 73%, prefers a heresy ministration to a trump administration. this friday the _ to a trump administration. this friday the ldp _ to a trump administration. this friday the ldp having venture vote in japan friday the ldp having venture vote injapan will have a new

prime minister. who are the main contenders?— prime minister. who are the main contenders? there are nine contenders. _ main contenders? there are nine contenders, more _ main contenders? there are nine contenders, more than _ main contenders? there are nine contenders, more than usual, i contenders, more than usual, probably because the rule of factions has been diminished. three leaders appear to be... but there were almost certainly be a runoff election. there are nine running the first round and then the top two will be the contenders, and so one of those three that i mentioned most likely be the next prime minister ofjapan. china's central bank announced a slew of stimulus measures to shore up its flagging economy on tuesday. the moves follow a series of disappointing data points, causing concern that the world's second largest economy might miss its 5% growth target this year. the people's bank of china has slashed interest rates for existing mortgages, and lowered minimum down payments on all types of homes. australia's consumer watchdog is suing the country's largest supermarket chains. the accc says coles and woolworths broke the law

by temporarily raising prices of goods, before lowering them to either the same or higher than original prices. both firms have issued statements to the allegation. coles said it would defend itself and that it had "sought to strike an appropriate balance" between higher prices and offering value to customers. meanwhile, woolworths said it was important its customers "trust the value they see" when shopping in their stores. the chair of the accc took me through how the regulator discovered these false discount claims. we first discovered it from actual customers contacting us, and we then looked on social media and we found on reddit, x, tiktok, multiple examples of customers querying whether the price discount claims were genuine because they had seen a short period of price spike after a long—term regular price, and then the product was put on to what marketed in

australia as long—term sustained price reduction programmes, prices drop, and they were returned at a higher price or no equal to the previous regular price. we also have evidence that in many cases, the supermarkets had planned the temporary spike in order to set up, in effect, the higher, new comparative price. we call the day was price, which then compares to the mal price, and in response to the response from woolworths about value, what we are concerned about here, and coles's response about balance, but we understand, the supermarkets can set their own price. what is important, particularly at times of cost—of—living pressures, is that customers can rely upon it being genuine value and that a price discount claim is accurate. tell value and that a price discount claim is accurate.— claim is accurate. tell us a bit more — claim is accurate. tell us a bit more about _ claim is accurate. tell us a bit more about the - claim is accurate. tell us a - bit more about the consumers here and some of the vulnerabilities they are facing in australia. we

vulnerabilities they are facing in australia.— in australia. we have had reasonable _ in australia. we have had reasonable levels - in australia. we have had reasonable levels of - in australia. we have had - reasonable levels of inflation, but we have also had, with high interest rates, a situation where at least on recent surveys that the accc has done, 25% of consumers that have responded to our survey are facing pressures in terms of the grocery budgets. and they're looking to discounts or they're looking to discounts or they are substituting, for example, frozen fruit, frozen vegetables in place of fresh, or in some cases, adults are skipping meals in a family. so we know there is both price pressure, budget pressure and, in some cases, food security pressure, and this is a very important context in which we take even more seriously the validity of price claims and discount claims. china is investigating the parent company of us fashion brands tommy hilfiger and calvin klein for

"discriminatory measures" against xinjiang cotton companies. the country's commerce ministry says the firms boycotted goods "without any factual basis". it is a fresh effort by beijing to fight against allegations from western officials and human rights activists that cotton has been produced using forced labour more of us are moving away from using cash, paying instead with cards or by using our phones. banking industry data in the uk shows the majority of people aged under 35 make contactless payments regularly with a smart phone or watch. so will we need to carry a wallet or purse around with us any more, or is that tradition on the way out? our correspondent kevin peachey has been to find out. deep in the leicestershire countryside, this barn isn't home to a trendy microbrewery but a business that's much more rare in the uk — a micro tannery. out of these giants reclaimed drums come the beginnings of quality leather that's come from deer and goat skins that otherwise would have gone to waste. these big drums here are a bit like a large washing machine, basically. and inside these, we tumble the hides, and by the end

of the process, we've got leather that we can turn into products, bags, wallets, that type of thing. those wallets are carefully crafted in a nearby workshop, piece by piece, one by one. but is there much point in all this skill and intricacy to create a leather wallet when the majority of 20—somethings are using one of these, rather than cards and cash, to make their day—to—day payments? we do pay contactless on our phone, don't we? on your phone? yeah? so everything's in that, right? pretty much. and there are things that you need money for. like, we'vejust been to the barbers. so...you do have cash for that. yeah, i get paid cash. so it's all right. it's not too bad for us. we only take cash in here as well. just use my phone. it's much easier. i don't have cash any more. and if i do, - it'sjust in my bag. yeah. and never comes out?

no, yeah. it's going mouldy, probably! do you still carry one of these? what, a wallet? or do you ever carry one of these? a wallet, yeah. of course. yeah? always. prefer a wallet to paying with your phone? probably, yeah, i'd say so. over the years, we've seen demand for a classic wallet, so we designed one of those. and it always surprises me how many of those we sell. so for now at least, it seems many still want to carry the physical money to make our world go round. kevin peachey, bbc news. and that's it for this edition of business today. thanks for watching. see you soon.

hey, i'm lola with the catch up! tonight — a railway station gets a name revamp, gaga's album announcement and an octopus packs a punch! but first we start in the middle east, where more than 550 people have been killed in lebanon in israeli strikes since monday, according to local officials. israel's military say they are targeting an armed group called hezbollah, who are seen as terroists by the uk and others. —— terrorists. monday marked the deadliest day since the end of the civil war in 1990. us presidentjoe biden has said that a full—scale war is not in anyone's interest. some other stories now. home secretary yvette cooper announced a pledge to halve knife crime in a decade and open new youth clubs in a speech at the labour party conference.

we caught up with labour's youngest mp, 22—year—old sam carling. one of the big challenges is the amount of abuse that young politicians get online. i'm dealing with quite a lot of it at the moment. people see that and it completely puts them off. real life is not like that at all. people are generally very friendly and pleasant, even when they disagree with you. brighton station will be temporarily named after paralympian bly twomey. passengers arriving at the station will be greeted by a "welcome to blyton" sign, celebrating the ia—year—old's two bronze medals from paris. and little monsters are rejoicing as lady gaga is releasing a new album on friday. it's called harlequin and it's a companion album to thejokerfilm gaga stars in. it's out next month. time now for 10 seconds of the muhammad ali of the marine world. an octopus has been caught throwing a uppercut at a fish who joined it on a hunting trip. i wouln�*t want to get on the wrong side of him. you're all caught up now — have a good night!

hello and welcome along to sportsday. i'm sarah mulkerrins. coming up on the programme: mixed emotions for manchester city — a win in the league cup is followed by confirmation that rodri will be out for a long time. harry brook produces a captain's performance to keep england alive in their one day series against australia. and marin cilic rewrites the record books as he celebrates in china with a long awaited win on the atp tour. absolutely incredible. i'm so proud of this achievement — for myself, for the team.