in just a few hours' time it will be the last roll of the dice for the year for the federal reserve — the us central bank — on its interest rate cutting journey. it began in september — the first cut to the cost of borrowing for over four years — as inflation subsided. it was cut again in november and is widely expected to be trimmed again today. ritika gupta is in new york for us. all eyes on the federal reserve, but the question is in the language, and about what we might get next year? it is might get next year? it is widely expected - might get next year? it is widely expected to - might get next year? it is widely expected to cut. might get next year? it 3 widely expected to cut interest rates for the third and final time of the year, and the market is pricing in a quarter point cut to the interest rate but what is more uncertain is the policy outlook for 2025, so

investors will be watching out for the comments, jerome powell in his presser, and the economic outlook released alongside the decision, so indications about future decisions on interest rates and many expect this to be a hawkish cut, meaning we will have a pause in cutting interest rates injanuary have a pause in cutting interest rates in january and at least less commitment to cutting them, this is because of the inflation picture which is proving stickier, inflation at 2.7%, above the 2% target, and the labour market remains robust. . ' . , robust. that difference will be the focus for _ robust. that difference will be the focus for the _ robust. that difference will be the focus for the federal - the focus for the federal reserve, not necessarily on the labour market which is pretty strong, but now inflation and keeping the sticky inflation in check. in keeping the sticky inflation in check. ,, , , , check. in september the focus was very much _ check. in september the focus was very much on _ check. in september the focus was very much on the - check. in september the focus was very much on the labour l was very much on the labour market picture, as opposed to progress on inflation, so maybe that starts to turn on its head, and i was speaking to

peter earle of the american institute of research and he explained the challenges the federal reserve has of this dual mandate of focusing on inflation and the labour market. right now the fed is in a tricky position. lowering rates seems appropriate because us unemployment has been rising at a rate that often signals an economic slowdown or recession. but the pace of disinflation slowing means, you know, with prices still rising, essentially means that, you know, the fed is in conflict. cutting rates could help the job market, but risk reigniting inflation while keeping rates high could control prices but worsen unemployment. so once again, they're highlighting the challenges of juggling multiple mandates. i mean, ithink the best thing that could happen right now for the fed and for the american people would be if congress had the ability to basically cut the fed to a single mandate, which would be controlling inflation and keeping prices stable _ there's also the case the income president donald trump and his policy proposals with a fresh round of tariffs,

potentially, and tax cuts, and many expect for your interest rates cuts next year. that is something they will be watching as well. —— many expect fewer interest—rate next year. as well. -- many expect fewer interest-rate next year. thanks forjoining _ interest-rate next year. thanks forjoining us- _ let's stay with the cost of borrowing — but move to the uk now — because the bank of england makes its own interest rate decision tomorrow. unlike the fed — the bank of england is expected to hold off cutting rates again — because of lingering worries about rising prices. well, we havejust had the latest inflation figure for the uk for november — it actually rose again last month to an annual rate of 2.6% — up from 2.3% in october — the bank's target is 2%. add to that — the employment data we had this time yesterday — that showed wages have risen more than expected in the three months to october, threatening to push prices up further. that has reinforced expectations that interest rates will stay on hold at 4.75% tomorrow. we're nowjoined byjane foley,

who's the head of fx strategy at rabobank. that really is the feeling, in terms of what will happen with interest rates, and therefore the attention will focus on what might happen next year? that is exactly right. what has been interesting this month, the changing views about where interest rates in the uk will go next year, so at the start of this month there was an interview in the financial press where the governor of the bank of england appeared to endorse what was then the market expectation of may be four interest rate cuts from the bank of england through the course of 2025, and other market expectation has now shifted, and right now it is only expecting two 25 basis cuts, next year, so they have really halved the expectations,

mostly on the back of the wage inflation data that you mentioned that came out yesterday. i mentioned that came out yesterday-— mentioned that came out yesterday. mentioned that came out esterda . ., ., yesterday. i wonder where that leaves business _ yesterday. i wonder where that leaves business when - yesterday. i wonder where that leaves business when it - yesterday. i wonder where that leaves business when it comes | leaves business when it comes to making decisions about what it does next because we know if the cost of borrowing stays higher, it makes it harder to invest or take on new staff, and therefore implications for the government which is putting faith in the economy growing again to solve some of its financial challenges.- again to solve some of its financial challenges. that is ri . ht. financial challenges. that is right- the _ financial challenges. that is right. the more _ financial challenges. that is right. the more growth - financial challenges. that is right. the more growth in l financial challenges. that is l right. the more growth in the uk, the more money flows into the coffers of the government and the better it is for everybody, less risk of higher taxes, and for the last two months, the gdp data and monthly growth numbers, very disappointing, and negative number, 0.1% for octoberand number, 0.1% for october and september, number, 0.1% for octoberand september, worse than expected, the growth numbers are low and very disappointing. so you combine weak growth with

interest rates which could stay higher for longer, interest rates which could stay higherfor longer, it is not a very attractive background for investment. one of the reasons that rates are staying higher, may be the major reason, because of the wage inflation number, and the bank of england needs that the come down because that will fuel inflation. there could be a difficult position for employers because they will be taxed more because of the budget, with the national insurance contribution rising, and many said that will affect the pay rises they give people next year, which could bring wages down and allow the bank of england to bring interest rates down. we of england to bring interest rates down.— of england to bring interest rates down. we make these predictions _ rates down. we make these predictions about _ rates down. we make these predictions about what - rates down. we make these l predictions about what might happen next year and of course there is a whole load of unknowns, not least the trade war between the us and china and the tariffs that the eu have slapped on some goods and the geopolitical uncertainty that will continue and that could change the equation for so many things.— could change the equation for so many things. geopolitics is art of so many things. geopolitics is

part of what — so many things. geopolitics is part of what we _ so many things. geopolitics is part of what we go _ so many things. geopolitics is part of what we go through i so many things. geopolitics is part of what we go through in | part of what we go through in the markets every day now and donald thomas it is ministration and the additional changes in policy he brings creates more uncertainty —— donald trump and his administration. and the likely have more volatile rises in financial market prices. thanks forjoining _ financial market prices. thanks forjoining us- _ we head to japan now with reports of a mega—merger in the car industry. shares in nissan have soared over 20% in tokyo trading on multiple reports it is in talks to set up a joint company with rival honda. shares in nissan's french partner, renault is also up — climbing over 6% higher in paris. a merger would create japan's biggest carfirm by stock market value — overtaking toyota. the talks come as established car brands struggle with the transition to electric cars — an industry now dominated by china. but any potential merger

could be too little too late in the ev market as will roberts from rho motion told me earlier. it would mean the entry of a new kind of global power when it comes to total vehicle sales. but when we put this in the context of the ev market, then it's a lot more questionable how powerful that merger could be. you know, both of these companies have been relatively slow to enter the full ev market, particularly the ev market. and their market share globally is only really around i%. and it's even lower in china, where, you know, now, very much the largest ev market is incredibly important for the future of a lot of these legacy manufacturers. and this really is a discussion, isn't it, about evs, electric vehicles and how it has changed the car market? and it strikes me here what we've got are two really big legacy players that have really struggled to adapt their sort of looking for safety in numbers, hunkering down and thinking maybe this is the answer to take on the likes of china that is able to make them at volume

and for a cheaper price. will it be enough given the scale of that competition? i mean, that is a very good question. it's going to be very tough to regain the kind of market share that these two together were used to in the chinese market. you know, their peak kind of share was over io%, i2.5% really in 2020. it's now half that. and like i said, less than i% share in the ev market. getting that up over 10% is going to be basically impossible given the strength of the domestic players there and how far ahead they are in ev technology. we've seen entry from companies like byd who have grown massively to be extremely large players. but even entry from new firms like xiaomi this year, bringing to domestic chinese consumers exactly what they want, whilst overseas manufacturers have have been slower to respond to those needs. we will keep you posted on any developments there.

now how does it feel to pull off a billion dollar business deal? this video went viral earlier in the year — it's dean forbes — boss of software firm forterro — at the moment he closed the deal to sell the company. what made it special for many people was the back—story. dean grew up in social housing in london and was made homeless twice. he's just made the top of the 2025 power list of influential black british people. theo legggett has been talking to dean about what it took to get there. i think my background, which for sure is not typical of a person in my role or in my situation, is actually the most helpful thing to me in my career. and i've said this, you know, many, many, many times. number one, in the transformational turnaround environment, among many things that you need is resilience, because especially at the beginning, you're having more bad days than you're having good days. so i've been kind of built in an environment, i grew up in an environment,

where resilience was a survival mechanism. it wasn't about developing your career or making money. it was about staying alive. that's why you needed to be resilient. so my resilience is built in a very different kind of factory than most of my counterparts. so that's helpful, especially in transformation. and then there's the fact i've lived most of my life without very much, so to be in this situation now with, you know, tons of opportunity, lots of great things happening, i'm not fearful of, you know, having nothing. i like to win, i'm a competitor, but i'm not fearful of having nothing, and i think sometimes that's quite liberating for me. that is a great story, isn't it? in other news... rent prices in london jumped 11.6% last month, which is the fastest pace on records. according to figures from the office for national statistics, the average monthly rent in london exceeded £2,200 for the first time in november. rental prices have been rising

sharply for the past two years as landlords have blamed rising costs and a shortage of properties. us drugmaker merck have signed a deal worth up to $2 billion with hansah pharma to develop and sell the chinese biotech�*s experimental oral weight loss drug. the drug — which is currently in the testing stage — works in a similar way to popular weight loss treatments like wegovy and zepbound. stay with us here on bbc news.

bbc analysis has revealed that facebook severely restricted the ability of palestinian news outlets to reach an audience during the israel—gaza war. meta says any suggestion that it deliberately suppressed particular voices is "unequivocally false". joe tidy reports. in times of conflict, access to reliable news is vital, and today many turn to social media as their primary source of information. on platforms like facebook and instagram, how people engage

with content so comments, likes, shares, reactions, can increase visibility and shape public opinion. but for the last year, palestinian journalists have raised concerns that their posts are being suppressed. and according to our research, something has happened. in the first comprehensive data analysis by territory since the start of the war in gaza, we analysed more than 100,000 facebook posts by different palestinian news organisations. this bar represents the average engagement per post in the lead up to the october 7th hamas attack on israel. as you can see, it fluctuates, but it's steady. and then hamas's attack and israel's subsequent and ongoing war in gaza became one of the biggest talking points in the world. one of the biggest talking but look what happens to the engagement on those same facebook pages. it nosedives. in fact, since that date, there's been a 77% drop in average engagement. one of the pages analysed in our investigation is the well—established palestine tv. they have 5.8 million followers on facebook

and have had some posts about the war restricted by the platform.