mariko _ you got what he wanted. thank you for that. mariko oi - you got what he wanted. you for that. mariko oi in - you got what he wanted. thank you for that. mariko oi in a - you for that. mariko oi in a newsroom in singapore. it's a big week for markets with investors eyeing the federal reserve's first policy decision of the year on thursday. their meeting comes hot on the heels of us president donald trump's comments to attendees of the world economic forum in davos last week, where he demanded that interest rates drop immediately. also during the week, we get report cards from a tech giants microsoft, alphabet, meta and tesla. jameel ahmad is a chief analyst at gtc global trade. he gave me his addiction on how they will approach this policy meeting. the central bank is completely independent of any kind of outside interference and we have to take into account here that sometimes the bug is worse than the bite because last week, yes, interest rates, but in the lead up to the november 2024 presidential elections, he also said that yes, he can give an opinion, but the

mariko 0i in our newsroom.s vowed to impose tariffs and in his interview with fox news, he said he would rather not impose tariffs on the world's second—largest economy and just want a level playing field for american businesses. how chinese positioning themselves amongst the rhetoric the white house? how reporter has more on what chinese officials are expecting from the us president. i expecting from the us president.— expecting from the us president. expecting from the us resident. . , ., president. i have been in and out of china _ president. i have been in and out of china for— president. i have been in and out of china for 20 _ president. i have been in and out of china for 20 years - president. i have been in and out of china for 20 years and | out of china for 20 years and this is the topic this year, and especially into 2025, how chinese companies are dealing with and facing — thinking about the trump administration. right now at this stage, it is actually some surprise and positive i guess because some

mariko oi has been following the story. mariko, does this latest comment come as a surprise? no because if you rememberjust last week, there remember just last week, there was rememberjust last week, there was a report in bloomberg news agency that say that chinese officials may be interested in selling tiktok to elon musk. at the time, tiktok flatley will get out, telling the bbc that it shouldn't be expected to comment on pure fiction. the report said chinese officials, not tiktok�*s, the link that tiktok has repeatedly denied and interestingly, on monday, china's foreign ministry also changed its tone saying that private companies can make their own decisions about selling or merging so basically, reversing their previous comment that it opposes tiktok being sold to a foreign buyer. meanwhile, mr trump who was the first want to called for a ban of tiktok during his first term, he was asked whether his open to it must combine tiktok and this is what he said. i would be if you wanted to buy it. so what i'm thinking about saying to somebody is buy it and give half to the unit

mariko oi has been following the story. mariko, does this latest comment come as a surprise?st week, there was a report by bloomberg saying that chinese officials may be interested in selling tiktok to elon musk, at the time, tiktok flatley ruled that out, telling the bbc that it shouldn't be expected to respond to pure fiction as they called it. tiktok has repeatedly said that it's not up for sale. interestingly, on monday, china's foreign ministry has said that private companies can make their own decisions about selling or merging basically reversing their previous comment that it was opposing the sale of tiktok to a foreign buyer. meanwhile, mrtrump who was the first want to coal for a ban of tiktok during his first term, he was asked whether he was open to elon musk mine tiktok and this is what he said. i would be if he wanted to buy it. so what i'm thinking about saying to somebody is buy it and give half to the united states of america. half and we'll give you the permit. and they'll have a great partner, the united states. mind you, we don't know whether elon musk is

our asia business reporter mariko oi has more. there were reports that president biden will decide on the deal soon and according to the washington post and reuters, he will likely block the deal. that's despite reports that nippon steel has proposed to give the us government veto power over any potential cuts to us steel's production capacity. that was one of the major concerns of the union, that nippon will eventually cut steel production in the united states and maybe start importing cheaper steel from japan, for example, which of course would then affect the employees�* job security. interestingly, while the union is still against the deal, not only us steel's leadership, but also some of its workers are now starting to favour the deal because the financial situation of the company has been so challenging and nippon steel has committed to investing almost $3 billion in us steel mills over the next few years. now, responding to the report of mr biden�*s imminent decision, us steel said in a statement that the company hopes mr b

from singapore, our business reporter mariko oi has the latest.would have been a fascinating twist in this ongoing story, but tiktok has told the bbc that it can't be expected to respond to pure fiction, referring to that bloomberg report which said that chinese officials might be considering selling tiktok to elon musk. meanwhile, some tiktok users in the united states have been migrating to another chinese app called rednote, which looks a bit like a combination of tiktok and instagram. and its popular with young people in china, taiwan and other mandarin—speaking populations. and those users are calling themselves tiktok refugees, and it's made rednote the most downloaded app on apple's us app store on monday. this all comes after last week when bytedance, the chinese parent company of tiktok, had its day in the us supreme court to challenge that legislation, which set a deadline on the 19th ofjanuary for tiktok to be sold or face a ban in the country. now, supreme courtjustices are expected to rule on it within days, but tiktok has repeatedly

as our asia business reporter mariko oi explained earlier. this was a question she has been looking at. l115 this was a question she has been looking at.— this was a question she has been looking at. us deal has indicated _ been looking at. us deal has indicated that _ been looking at. us deal has indicated that it _ been looking at. us deal has indicated that it may - been looking at. us deal has indicated that it may file - indicated that it may file lawsuits, including against the biden administration, if the president decides to block the acquisition. it willalso president decides to block the acquisition. it will also be interesting to see what mr trump the site as well, who will return to the white house very soon. during the election campaign, he also voiced concerns about this deal. that was of course before all those new proposals that nippon steel has made in order to protect or to show that they are committed to show that they are committed to protecting those jobs of us steel workers. we will see what mr trump thinks of the deal,

mariko oi reports. this chart shows the history of the cost of borrowing injapan.or the past 25 years has been pretty flat. it was in 1999 when the bank ofjapan became the first central bank in the world to cut interest rates to zero. it was a bold move at the time. the country was experiencing falling prices, also known as deflation, and lower rates were meant to encourage spending and investment — at least in theory. but consumers won't buying it. that's because the value of their properties and other assets were falling, so people didn't feel confident to spend money and it slowed an entire country's economic growth. then, in 2016, the bank ofjapan went further, taking the extraordinary step of cutting rates to below zero. negative interest rates meant that the b0] was, in some ways, paying borrowers to, well, borrow money, and they stayed there for over eight years, hoping that prices would start to rise. inflation finally arrived several years ago, but it was mainly due to higher food and fuel prices caused by the war in ukraine. in march last year, the centra

here's mariko oi with more.of borrowing injapan, and for the past 25 years it's been pretty flat. it was in 1999 when the bank of japan became the first central bank in the world to cut interest rates to zero. it was a bold move at the time. the country was experiencing falling prices — also known as deflation — and lower rates were meant to encourage spending and investment, at least in theory. but consumers weren't buying it. that's because the value of their properties and other assets were falling, so people didn't feel confident to spend money, and it slowed an entire country's economic growth. then, in 2016, the bank ofjapan went further — taking the extraordinary step of cutting rates to below zero. negative interest rates meant that the boj was, in some ways, paying borrowers to, well, borrow money — and they stayed there for over eight years hoping that prices would start to rise. inflation finally arrived several years ago, but it was mainly due to higher food and fuel prices caused by the war in ukrai

for more, mariko oi is in our asia business hub for us.n america, but by dance, the parent company, also employs 7000 staff in the us and there were reports about how they have been voicing concerns aboutjob have been voicing concerns about job security and have been voicing concerns aboutjob security and in an internal memo that has been reviewed

here's mariko 0i with more. the cost of borrowing injapan, and for the past 25 years it's been pretty flat. it was in 1999 when the bank of japan became the first central bank in the world to cut interest rates to zero. it was a bold move at the time. the country was experiencing falling prices — also known as deflation — and lower rates were meant to encourage spending and investment, at least in theory. but consumers weren't buying it. that's because the value of their properties and other assets were falling, so people didn't feel confident to spend money, and it slowed an entire country's economic growth. then, in 2016, the bank ofjapan went further — taking the extraordinary step of cutting rates to below zero. negative interest rates meant that the b0] was, in some ways, paying borrowers to, well, borrow money — and they stayed there for over eight years hoping that prices would start to rise. inflation finally arrived several years ago, but it was mainly due to higher food and fuel prices caused by the wa

our asia business reporter mariko oi has more. there were reports that president biden will

mariko oi has been crunching the numbers for us in our asia business hub. tell us more.e looking at. one is the consumer price index, basically how much ordinary consumers paid which showed a very modest gain in price of 0.1% last month compared to last december. if you compare that to november, prices did not rise orfall that to november, prices did not rise or fall because the data base came in flat so that is news because between october and november prices fell by 0.6% and when prices fall, deflation, consumers tend to wait even longer before spending money. but if you look at the other inflation measure, the producer price index which is how much producers at factories pay, prices fell for 27 months in a row and the decline in december was 2.3%, quite steep. that is just one of many challenges facing the world's second biggest economy including the prolonged housing crisis that we have been talking about hitting demand despite baiting's ramping up a stimulus to try and revive the consumer sector. interestingly there was a report on the most wall street journal this

the law comes into effect on sunday. 0ur asia business reporter mariko 0i has more.erica, some 170 million of them, but bytedance, the parent company of tiktok, it also employs 7,000 staff in the united states and there were reports about how they have been voicing concerns about job security, and in an internal memo that has been reviewed by reuters, the company told those employees that theirjobs are safe, regardless of what the supreme court decides, and that their office will remain open. as we have been reporting, new legislation put a deadline on the 19th ofjanuary, which is this coming sunday, to either sell the app or face a ban in the united states. it is important to emphasise that even if the supreme court does not block the bill, new tiktok downloads won't be allowed but existing users can continue using it for some time, though eventually the service will degrade and therefore the users may decide to leave anyway. as i said, there are more than 170 million users of tiktok in united states and interestingly some of them have actually been moving to other

mariko, good to have you with me to talk about the stories continues to unfold.ow that the arrest could be happening eminently but there has been reaction on the business front as well. it is interesting if you look at the stock market. it is not doing badly at all, it is up by about 1.6, doing badly at all, it is up by about1.6,1.7% now. and if you look at the currency, the south korean one which reacted badly, falling quite sharply on the day of that martial law declaration it doesn't move too badly either. we must remember that the authorities including the central bank have said at the central bank have said at the time that they would do basically anything to make sure that the financial markets are not affected or at least impact is limited. so far their efforts seem to be working. of course they have been concerns, especially from economists that if this goes on, this political uncertainty could affect business and investor sentiment. so far in terms of the stock market it is incredible when you watch the live pictures from seoul which are four unprecedent

accordfing to courses speaking to both reuters and the washington post. 0ur asia business reporter, marikog this story for us from singapore. what more can you tell us? there were reports president biden will likely decide on the deal soon and as you said, according to the washington post, he will likely block the deal and that is despite reports they have proposed to give the us government veto power over any potential cuts to us steel production capacity as well as a ten year guarantee it will not produce predation capacity and us steel mills. that was one of the major concerns of the union of us steel that they will eventually cut production in the united states and maybe start importing cheapest deal from japan for example who will in fact the employeejob japan for example who will in fact the employee job security. while the doogan has been still against a deal, not only us deals leadership but also some of its workers have started to favour the deal because the financial situation of us steel has been quite challenging and nippon has continued to invest almost $3 billion in us steel

for more, mariko oi is in our asia business hub for us. what more can you tell us?ouldn't it, but yes, tiktok has told the bbc it can't be expected to respond to pure fiction, responding to that bloomberg report, which said chinese officials might be considering selling tiktok to elon musk. of course this comes after the company had its day in the court, in the us supreme court, to challenge that law, which set a deadline on the 19th ofjanuary for which set a deadline on the 19th of january for tiktok either to be sold orface 19th of january for tiktok either to be sold or face a 19th of january for tiktok either to be sold orface a ban in the country. the supreme courtjustices in the country. the supreme court justices are expected in the country. the supreme courtjustices are expected to rule on it within days, before the 19th deadline, but tiktok has repeatedly said it will not sell its us operation. meanwhile, of course, mrtrump, who initially called for a ban of the app and urged the supreme court to delay its decision until he takes office a day later on the 2