progress stalls — in america's fight against inflation. will the return of donald trump also see a return of rising prices? also coming up — ai — boom or bubble? billionaire tech veteran tom siebel tells us some valuations are looking �*incredibly frothy�* the rising cost of britain's housing crisis. rental prices soar — much faster than average earnings— earnings— piling pressure on millions of tenants. and — is fast fashion — finally slowing down? a weaker run—up to the holidays for zara — but it's still outstyling its rivals.

welcome to business today, i'm ben thompson. we start in the us — where the cost of living crisis there is proving a tough problem to solve. in the last couple of hours we've learned that consumer price inflation has ticked higher — for the fourth month in a row. the rise was expected — and it's not likely to deter the federal reserve from cutting interest rates again next week. that's given markets a boost. but it raises the question of how much further — and how fast — the fed will be able to cut the cost of borrowing next year. let's show you the numbers. us consumer prices rose at an annual rate of 2.7% in november— slightly up on the previous month. it's way off the highs seen in 2022 — but still stubbornly above the federal reserve�*s 2% target. the rising cost of living was of course a key factor in the democrats�* defeat in last month�*s election. in a speech on tuesday evening though — president biden defended his economic record —

saying he was handing donald trump �*the strongest economy in modern history�* — and warning consumers would �*pay the price�* for his plans. after decades of trickle—down economics that primarily benefited those at the very top but we — benefited those at the very top but we have written a new book with the — but we have written a new book with the middle out and the bottom _ with the middle out and the bottom up and the benefits thus far everyone. over16 bottom up and the benefits thus far everyone. over 16 million new— far everyone. over 16 million newjobs, _ far everyone. over 16 million newjobs, the most in any single _ newjobs, the most in any single presidential term in american history. the lowest average _ american history. the lowest average unemployment rate of any administration of the last 50 years _ our north america business correspondent michelle fleury is following this for us in new york. once again inflation ticking higher, not great news for consumers but the fed not

likely to change its path on interest rates.— interest rates. that is certainly _ interest rates. that is certainly the - interest rates. that is certainly the view - interest rates. that is certainly the view on | interest rates. that is - certainly the view on wall street that the figures today, although they don�*t show inflation continuing to make progress, still it is level with where they think the federal reserve will move forward with the quarter percentage rate cut. the assumption is that interest rates will remain where they are likely for longer than people would like can certainly wear donald trump with like. inflation was a huge problem for democrats in the campaign trail butjoe biden defending his economic record saying the economy is in a very strong position but the problem with a lot of people don�*t feel it is better. lot of people don't feel it is better. ., ., , better. that was the complicated - better. that was the l complicated message better. that was the - complicated message of the democrats had during the campaign season. if people are going to the grocery store or

the petrol pump or paying their rent check and they are seeing prices high, then it doesn�*t matter how well the economy is doing. on the day to day basis of people�*s lived experience they are still paying more for things than they did before the pandemic started. while democrats have been trying to point out that in growth and labour market terms the economy is very strong and the envy of many around the problem is it is retail politics and the message just didn�*t resonate. good to see you, thank you for now. let�*s stay in the us — because the excitement about artificial intelligence has supercharged wall street — with chip maker nvidia leading the charge — it�*s now worth over a trillion dollars. but is it a bubble about to burst? ritika gupta has been speaking to tech industry veteran tom siebel— the billionaire founder of business software maker siebel systems — now running his new venture c3.ai. he warns that despite

the huge potential... some valuations are �*incredibly frothy�*. this ai phenomenon is not ephemeral and is not small. at enterprise ai, this is estimated to be a $2 trillion software market, so the largest software market, so the largest software market, so the largest software market we have seen in the history of enterprise software so this is very real and very big and has definitely been reflected in the evaluations of ai stocks and particularly people who make the infrastructure for al. if you look at al overall in the amount of money pouring in do you think ai investment is a bubble that will burst any time soon? $1 bubble that will burst any time soon? �* , ~' bubble that will burst any time soon? �* , ~ ~ soon? ai stocks like open ai i think is insane, _ soon? ai stocks like open ai i think is insane, and _ soon? ai stocks like open ai i think is insane, and that - soon? ai stocks like open ai i think is insane, and that they | think is insane, and that they say that markets can remain

irrational longer than rational investors can remain solvent, but this could run for a while. i think some of these companies the valuations are incredibly frothy. here in the uk, rental prices continue to soar. on average people are paying £270 per month more than they were at the end of the coronavirus pandemic. that�*s according to new figures from property portal zoopla— which handles listings for four fifths of the rental market. it says prices started soaring because of high demand from tenants after lockdowns were lifted — and limited numbers of properties available. let�*s show you some of the numbers. average annual rents in the uk have now hit over £15,000 a year. up 27 per cent on 2021. the rate of increase has has slowed a bit this year. but compare that though to average earnings— they�*ve only risen 19 per cent over the same period — making renting ever more unaffordable for many. earlier i spoke to jae vail —

a campaigner at the london renters union — he says these problems have been building for a long time. this is in a crunch moment right now, but this has been decades in the making. it began with the sell off of our council housing back in the 1980s, and the dismantling of basic tenancy protections, things like rent control, also protection from evictions. so we have this system now where the government is overly reliant on unregulated private landlords to meet the nation�*s housing needs. and, um, tenants have got no choice but to rent privately and pay extortionate rents. and when they�*re not able to pay those rents, the government is subsidising the private sector in the form of housing benefit to the tune of billions a year, or when people are, you know, when people end up homeless and the government is paying billions every year in the form of emergency homeless accommodation, and this isjust a mass handover of public wealth to the private, excuse me, to the private sector. and, you know, if we want to turn this housing crisis around, we need

to reverse this process. we need to bring back in rent controls. we need a massive investment in social and council housing so that everyone actually has a secure place to call home, whether or not you can afford kind of landlords massive rents. yeah. and jay, i mean, we know that the current government says it wants to build more houses and it is laying out plans of how it intends to do so. but we know also that takes a long time. putting up houses takes time. it doesn�*t solve an immediate problem. you talk there about unregulated landlords. what regulation would you like to see? what would make a difference in the short term? uh, one thing. so right now, the government�*s pledge to ban no fault section 21 evictions, which is where people can be thrown out of their homes for no reason. and that�*s massive step forward for tenants. um, but we also need limits on rent increases. you know, it�*sjust outrageous that you can be forced out of your home because your landlord can increase your rent by 30% in one go, and people just can�*t afford it,

and theyjust end up being pushed out of the communities that they�*ve called home for for generations. so, um, we need limits on the amount that landlords can increase rent by both within and between tenancies. the latest on the housing crisis as far as rentals are concerned. now — is fast fashion — showing signs of slowing down? inditex — the spanish clothing giant behind zara, bershka and pull&bear — says sales were up 9% in the past six weeks — which includes the vital black friday period. that�*s down on the 14% sales growth it saw this time last year. but despite a more difficult trading environment — zara continues to do better than its rivals — the likes of high street chain h&m and chinese online fashion retailer shein. as fashion journalist julia robson told us earlier. it�*s tough out there and there�*s a lot of companies such as boohoo that we sort of think of, and pretty little things that have released figures that aren�*t doing very well.

but i don�*t see any change in fast fashion at the moment because until the consumer doesn�*t want to buy ariana grande in wicked or, um, any sort of, you know, trend that we consider to be exciting and new and different, um, the consumer has been so used to being able to purchase something, um, quite quickly. it�*s the trends that are moving so quickly, so i don�*t. the business model is certainly changing to reflect a more thoughtful consumer, but for the moment, she still loves her zara. in other news.... hackers have made a hole in the world�*s most famous doughnut firm. krispy kreme says it�*s been hit by a cyber attack — that has has a "material impact" on its operations — and affected online ordering in parts of the us. it�*s working with cybersecurity experts to mitigate the impact. general motors shares

have been rising — on the news it�*s pulling the plug on its cruise self—driving taxi project. the auto giant says it will now "refocus autonomous driving development on personal vehicles". gm blamed an increasingly competitive robotaxi market — and "the considerable time and resources that would be needed to scale the business". �*buy now — pay later�* firm klarna has been hit with a $50 million fine, after sweden�*s financial regulator found it guilty of breaching anti—money laundering rules. the watchdog said klarna didn�*t have enough controls in place to monitor �*money laundering or terrorist financing�*. klarna said in statement, that no �*money laundering�* had taken place on its platform. it matters the business for today. see you very soon.

welcome back to verified live. let�*s get the latest on developments in syria now. the interim prime minister, mohamad al bashir, has called

on syrians abroad to return home, following of the overthrow of bashar al—assad at the weekend. mr al bashir says he wants to provide stability and calm. the bbc�*s lina sinjab has been speaking with food vendors at one of damascus�*s markets who say there are more signs of life through out the city. i am in one of damascus's food and vegetable markets and as we can see today there is plenty of produce available. syria is very rich in its agriculture and most of the products we are seeing today are coming from rural damascus or from the coastal side, a sign that the traffic and the delivery is continuing. we have spoken to lots of people here today. some of the shopkeepers said that we are going, you know, we have full oxygen now, a sign that they have been suffocating under assad. the others said, "we have a full—time celebration." we can see people picking up their groceries here.

this is essential for the rebels to get things back working.