after it kept interest rates steady in the central bank's first policy decision of the year. hefty discounts for its electric vehicles don't seem to be helping tesla,

as it reports weaker sales for the fourth quarter. hello and welcome to business today. i'm katie silver. we begin with the fed's first meeting of the year where it left interest rates unchanged on wednesday. this was the us central bank's first policy decision with president trump in the white house. we have all the details from new york. the fed held the details from new york. tue: fed held interest the details from new york. tte: fed held interest rates steady as it pauses to assess the inflation outlook, as widely expected, range of 4.25% funds rate in a range of 4.25% to 4.5%, after cutting interest rates at three consecutive meetings. but while chair jerome powell says he sees the economy still growing at a solid pace, the fed's statement removed reference to inflation progress towards the 2% goal, and noted inflation remains

somewhat elevated, sending stocks on wall street lower on wednesday. this was the first fed decision under a new donald trump presidency. he was openly said that he wants to see lower rates. when asked if the president has demanded interest rates drop immediately, powell remained tight—lipped. t’m rates drop immediately, powell remained tight-lipped._ remained tight-lipped. i'm not auoin to remained tight-lipped. i'm not going to have _ remained tight-lipped. i'm not going to have any _ remained tight-lipped. i'm not going to have any response - remained tight-lipped. i'm not going to have any response or| going to have any response or comment_ going to have any response or comment whatsoever on what the president — comment whatsoever on what the president said. it's not appropriate for me to do so. the — appropriate for me to do so. the side _ appropriate for me to do so. the side step on complex issues related to both monetary policy and the new political landscape was anticipated as the central bank awaits to see the impacts of trump's policies, especially if threats to hit foreign goods with import taxes or tariffs could send inflation rising again. and just ahead of its decision, inflation fears were stoked further by comments by trump's pick for commerce secretary, as he faced a hearing in the senate. he said hearing in the senate. he said he wants across—the—board he wants across—the—boa rd tariffs, he wants across—the—board tariffs, but denied that tariffs, but denied that tariffs will cause inflation. the economy of the united states— the economy of the united states of america will be much,

much _ states of america will be much, much better. a particular product's price may go up, but all of— product's price may go up, but all of them? this is not inflationary. the two top countries with tariffs — india and — countries with tariffs — india and china _ countries with tariffs — india and china — have the most tariffs _ and china — have the most tariffs and no inflation. it is just— tariffs and no inflation. it is just a — tariffs and no inflation. it is just a nonsense that tariffs cause _ just a nonsense that tariffs cause inflation.— cause inflation. while questions _ cause inflation. while questions remain - cause inflation. while questions remain on. cause inflation. while - questions remain on inflation and the future path of interest rates, it seems investors will need to wait until the fed's march meeting when officials will update publicly their forecasts for the economy. us president donald trump reacted to the fed's decision in a social media post. he accused the central bank and chairmanjerome powell of mishandling the economy, saying they had failed to stop the problem they created with inflation. saira malik, chief investment officer at nuveen equities gave us her assessment. i think this is not a surprise to the markets bar for those hoping for a rate cut in march,

and there's two reasons why the fed is being cautious. number one is inflation in the us, which remains sticky, driven by services and wages, and employment markets that remain quite healthy and given inflation employment markets and a strong us economy, the fed is not in a hurry to cut rates. however, we still see two rate cuts in 2025 but it will be a backend—loaded year for rate cuts. will be a backend-loaded year for rate cuts.— for rate cuts. you mentioned structural— for rate cuts. you mentioned structural factors _ for rate cuts. you mentioned structural factors going - for rate cuts. you mentioned structural factors going on. | structural factors going on. how do you think the fed is weighing up trump's how do you think the fed is weighing up trumj exacerbate policies, so it may exacerbate issue of the us economy the issue'oftheus'economy strong, which the issue'eftheus'economy strong, which is a good :-:=e {for the economy 77 {for the economy but a thing for the economy but a bad thing for the economy but a bad thing for the fed when it comes to interest rates. the to cuttingintereetaretee. the card is tariffs and wild card here is tariffs and what is the impact of tariffs. around the world n around the world could

as we produce be inflationary as we produce more goods back in the us, but that could make the fed's problem harder. as long as inflation stucky and we inflation remains stucky and we inflation remains stucky and we inflation going be "' varnd'higherfori " 7 "' varnd'higherforilongfer, around and higher for longer. going to it that's going to make it challenging for the fed to put in a significant of challenging for the fed to put in a significa the of challenging for the fed to put in a significa the interest rates decreases in the interest rates rate. , ., ., rate. of course, we did, at one oint, rate. of course, we did, at one point. see _ rate. of course, we did, at one point, see president— when 7 when he when he was 7 when he was going saying that when he was going come to office, he was to come to office, he was going to come to office, he was going to firejerome powell. it does to firejerome pewell. it dees two are struggling to seem the two are struggling to get on. trump, of course, seems get on. trump. of course. seems be interfering in every to be interfering in every element of politics, talking about interfering in rates. can influence rate decisions the fed? from the fed.?.. , the fed an from the fed.?.. , the fe entity and i think powell 5 powell is j powell is pretty clear jerome powell is pretty clear he's to focus on the rate he's going to focus on the rate of interest rate changes based what 77 what the 77 what the economy is doing, on what the economy is doing, what employment markets are whet empleyment "eke�*s ere and what inflation is doing and what inflation is he's been pretty clear :-=:: 77 that and i that's he will continue to go

mr trump's accounts after the us capitol riot he sued the company at the end of his first term as president, accusing it of censorship. the deal comes after mark zuckerberg donated $1 million to mr trump's zuckerberg donated $1 million to mrtrump's campaign zuckerberg donated $1 million to mr trump's campaign and t9.1"!j’trump's campaignand content relaxed content moderation and facebook, instagram and speaking of meta, it was one of the several technology with revenue coming in at $48 billion. would make it a world leader in the technology. would ma reported irld quarterly would ma reported irld qu its erly results, sending its shares down 4% in after—hours trade. rose over 12%, the

revenue rose over 12%, the company's revenue rose over 12%, the compa ny�*s slowest growth in nearly two years. weaker sales at cloud divisions drove at its cloud divisions drove softer result. at its cloud divisions drove - softer result. that softer result. revenue its that softer result. revenue - its flagship _ that softer result. revenue - its flagship cloud - that softer result. revenue i - its flagship cloud product from its flagship cloud product azure, jumping only a third. another company that reported disappointing results was tesla. from the year before, missing wall street's estimates. software and robotaxis. when it comes to the top spot as the world's largest ev—maker, which it lost to byd year, , w 2:4: t year, analyst karl braue a " ’ $11;th " 7 aflongshot.t we're seeing is think what we're seeing is future and

futurerprofit'endedvencemente not to in the are not going to come in the world, not in the car world, not in the manufacturing world, for tesla. 90mg; £5in th’f going}; ., ”%i£ goingfto need they're going to need in other areas. i breakthroughs in other areas. i think everyone knows this. elon knows this and why the knowsthie end'thet’e'why the of his future predictions bulk of his future predictions on where tesla's going are built around and robots and and talk ebot? ” talk 51m. talk aiboutthe famous let's talk about the famous bromance between musk and bromance between elon musk and trump. do you think that donald trump. do you think that is going to help? we have seen % promising 7 promising to cut ev trump promising to cut ev credits and biden's targets when it to evs. what is this going to have? t impact is this going to have? i think, there's all these think, again, there's all these forces and lack of ev cred xre’géulatofyuw " fejulét’oifiéia’x'i rig} x iregéulatofyrrelaxing and the at regulatory relaxing and the méet�*e’ee going to hurt incentives are going to hurt the of in general and the soles of eve'ih'gener’et and includes tesla, but i that includes tesla, but i think it's a random that don't think it's a random that elon has aligned himself with trump. i think he sees that the next breakthrough comes in the form advanced technologies like robo—taxis and he knows the ffi�*ff�*fffii"? §fi€fi§ afiiéfffief w 7 hurdles ffi�*ff�*fffii"? §fi€fi§ afiiéfffief 7” hurdles are of toughest ones to :-—: e—-— d through there. he's behind that doing other companies that are doing

this. if can weave 7 through those regulations more rapidly some of the other rapidly than some of the other companies, because he's companies, maybe because he's got a friend high places, got a friend in high places, that could give him back an and i think that's where he's positioning wheri and s positioning wheri and what tioning wheri and what we're g the company and what we're seeing. uk chancellor rachel reeves has qgkgghaggcgellor rachel reeves has that the business and confirmed that the business and secretary, ' wtiebsnj” will soon'visit ' will soon'visit india reynolds, will soon visit india to restart talks on the free trade agreement. the bbc�*s to restart talks on the free trade agreement. more ic�*s to restart talks on the free trade agreement. more from on what; on whatethis deth'ron whatthis means and has deth'ronwhatthis means and has to happen for the finally go the uk said in bmw the uk said in that they would talks that they would restart talks in the new year. this seems