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00:00:05Now on BBC News, the latest
00:00:06business news from across the globe.
00:00:09globe. Business Today. On hold but
00:00:19but for how long? The Bank of England England leaves interest rates unchanged
00:00:22unchanged but warns they may rise rise if the Middle East war drags
00:00:25drags on. Stronger together Canada's
00:00:28Canada's Mark Carney takes aim at
00:00:29at US tariffs and big tech as he
00:00:32he addresses the European Parliament. Parliament. Throwing down a gauntlet
00:00:35gauntlet to President Trump and smart
00:00:38smart spec Snap says its new eyewear eyewear will augment your reality.
00:00:42reality. We will take a closer look.
00:00:46look. Hello. Welcome along. This This is Business Today. I'm Ben Thompson
00:00:49Thompson and we start here in the the UK where the Bank of England
00:00:52England has left interest rates unchanged
00:00:55unchanged at three and three quarters quarters of a percent. Deciding not
00:00:57not to follow the US Fed and European European Central Bank by raising
00:01:01raising them. The decision in the
00:01:02the last few hours was widely expected,
00:01:06expected, but it was not unanimous. unanimous. Three of the bank's nine nine member rate setting committee
00:01:10committee voted for an increase. increase. The bank, though, did unanimously
00:01:13unanimously decide to pause its sell sell off of government bonds. Now
00:01:16Now that has seen the UK's government government borrowing costs fall on
00:01:19on bond markets. Our economics editor editor Faisal Islam reports now from
00:01:23from the Bank of England. They have.
00:01:26have. Not followed other major central central banks which have raised rates.
00:01:30rates. They've held it at 3.75% on
00:01:33on the same split of the nine member member committee that we had before, before, 6 to 3. And the essential
00:01:37essential reason is that they recognise recognise rising pressures from energy.
00:01:40energy. But they say that for now, now, the rest of the economy hasn't
00:01:44hasn't sort of percolated out into into the rest of the economy and
00:01:48and effectively that they're going going to wait until they can see
00:01:51see that it might feed into wages wages before they act. Now, three
00:01:55three members of the committee thought thought actually we've seen enough enough rates should go up. This is
00:01:59is an inevitability that it will will percolate into the rest of the
00:02:01the economy. Six didn't. So we got
00:02:04got a similar decision to what we we got in July, despite the fact fact that energy prices have gone
00:02:08gone up considerably since then.
00:02:12then. Faisal Islam there with the the very latest from the Bank of of England. Well, financial markets
00:02:15markets are betting that the Bank Bank will have to raise rates in
00:02:18in the coming months, possibly three three times in the last couple of
00:02:22of hours, the governor of the Bank Bank of England has been speaking. speaking. He said a lot will depend
00:02:25depend on how long the war in the the Middle East goes on, but that
00:02:28that the markets have already done done a lot to push up people's borrowing
00:02:32borrowing costs. There are two things things that we focus on. One is the
00:02:35the direct impact of energy prices prices and obviously the impact of
00:02:38of what we've seen in the Gulf. And And that has obviously had a serious
00:02:42serious effect and it continues to to do so. And then we have to look
00:02:45look at how that is feeding through through into general inflation and
00:02:48and the economy. It's still early early days, so I'm not going to give
00:02:52give you any firm judgement as to to what's going to happen so far.
00:02:55far. That feed through has been quite
00:02:58quite subdued. But it is early days
00:03:01days now. Unfortunately the longer longer these high energy prices go
00:03:05go on, the more difficult this becomes. becomes. And we've flagged this though
00:03:07though clearly today. The final thing thing I'd say is that monetary conditions
00:03:11conditions in this country have tightened tightened quite a bit this year because
00:03:15because we were expected to cut rates rates and we haven't. And that's
00:03:19that's I think, obviously necessary. necessary. And I'll give you the
00:03:21the best example of this, which I
00:03:23I think many, many viewers will probably probably associate with mortgage
00:03:27mortgage rates in this country since since the end of February when the
00:03:29the conflict began, have gone up
00:03:31up by nearly 1%. So that's a substantial
00:03:35substantial tightening of monetary monetary conditions. And we take take that into account. But it's
00:03:39it's going to get more difficult difficult with these decisions. The
00:03:42The longer this problem and this this conflict goes on. It's the governor
00:03:45governor of the Bank of England there there speaking to the BBC. Well,
00:03:49Well, there has been some relief relief on energy prices with crude
00:03:51crude oil dipping to its lowest level level in a week. Saudi Arabia has
00:03:55has reassured traders that its east east west pipeline that was damaged
00:03:59damaged in and around backed attack
00:04:01attack will resume pumping oil within within days and that it will ramp
00:04:04ramp up shipments via Oman to keep keep output levels steady. Well,
00:04:07Well, a short while ago, the international international benchmark Brent crude
00:04:10crude had made back some of its ground. ground. It's still trading above
00:04:13above 100. It's currently around
00:04:16around $103 a barrel. Let's talk talk now to Ellen Fraser, who's an
00:04:19an energy expert at the consultancy consultancy Baringa that's based
00:04:22based here in the UK. Ellen, good good to get your thoughts on this.
00:04:24this. And I mean apart from what what Saudi said today, what's changed
00:04:28changed to give give us that glimmer glimmer of hope in terms of the oil
00:04:31oil price. Yeah. We've got to think think about the market fundamentals
00:04:34fundamentals here. So we're in a a position where we're entering winter
00:04:37winter in the northern hemisphere hemisphere and our energy consumption consumption particularly for heating,
00:04:41heating, is going to increase. Global Global stock levels are relatively
00:04:44relatively low. We're still not able able to move product through the
00:04:48the Strait of Hormuz. And anything anything like the volumes that we we had done historically and refining
00:04:52refining capacity is tight as well. well. So there's lots of stresses
00:04:54stresses in the market in the last last few hours, few days we've seen
00:04:58seen the news obviously from Saudi Saudi Arabia. The positive news around
00:05:01around the pipeline beginning to
00:05:03to move and some potential rebuild rebuild in terms of global stock
00:05:07stock levels as well. And you know, know, it's just a sign that the market
00:05:10market is so tight that any good good news will cause a bit of a blip
00:05:13blip and any bad news will cause cause a bit of a blip as well. It's It's just going to be really volatile
00:05:17volatile for the coming period until until we get back to some level of
00:05:20of market stability. Yeah. You mentioned mentioned stock levels as well. I
00:05:23I was reading an interesting report report earlier about how decimated
00:05:26decimated those stock levels have have been right around the world, world, and it will take some time
00:05:29time for energy firms to build up
00:05:31up those reserves once again, I mean, mean, this is the big question. How
00:05:35How long will it take? And also, also, is it a case that until those
00:05:38those stocks are back up, we'll see see these high prices. Fundamentally
00:05:42Fundamentally yes absolutely. While While stocks are tight the market
00:05:45market you know has lost quite a a lot of its resilience typically typically at this time of year certainly
00:05:49certainly within the European region, region, we're at a position where
00:05:52where we've got really high gas reserves
00:05:55reserves that then see us through through the winter and mean we're
00:05:58we're not quite as exposed in the the UK and in Europe more broadly
00:06:01broadly in terms of the spot price price for gas. We just don't have
00:06:05have that level of insurance policy policy now because we didn't manage
00:06:08manage to fill up those stock levels levels over winter. And we haven't
00:06:12haven't mentioned the gas price so so far, but actually the gas price price has really gone up quite materially
00:06:16materially recently. So it just means means that we're much more exposed
00:06:19exposed to that. And obviously, you you know, that feeds through into
00:06:22into electricity as well. Given that
00:06:23that we do still burn gas to generate
00:06:26generate electricity. Ellen, good good to talk to you. Thanks so much.
00:06:29much. Ellen Fraser there at Beringer. Beringer. Thank you. Well, elsewhere
00:06:33elsewhere today, the Canadian Prime Prime Minister, Mark Carney, has has told the European Parliament
00:06:37Parliament in Strasbourg that his his country and Europe would be stronger
00:06:41stronger together. Well, that comes comes after the EU proposed making
00:06:44making Canada its first ever associate associate member. Well, that sparked
00:06:47sparked a furious backlash from President President Trump, who says it could
00:06:50could be viewed as a hostile act
00:06:52act that might prompt further tariffs
00:06:55tariffs on the EU. In a wide ranging ranging speech quoting a German poet
00:06:59poet and alternating between English English and French, the Prime Minister,
00:07:02Minister, Mr Carney, took aim at
00:07:04at US trade policies and big tech.
00:07:07tech. Together, Canada and the European
00:07:10European Union can anchor our ground
00:07:12ground to hold our values while forming
00:07:15forming a protective canopy under
00:07:18under which our citizens can thrive.
00:07:21thrive. This is about sovereignty
00:07:25sovereignty our ability to live as
00:07:28as we wish. It's about the freedoms
00:07:30freedoms we must fight for every
00:07:34every day because sovereignty requires
00:07:37requires resilience, the ability
00:07:39ability to withstand shocks. Sovereignty
00:07:41Sovereignty today goes beyond being being able to feed, fuel and defend
00:07:44defend ourselves. It now requires
00:07:47requires secure access to AI, semiconductors, semiconductors, critical minerals,
00:07:51minerals, payment systems, clean clean energy technologies, vaccines,
00:07:55vaccines, space based communications
00:07:57communications and we all have important important gaps in these strategic
00:08:01strategic capabilities. And we each
00:08:03each must rely on individual nations
00:08:05nations or individual companies to
00:08:07to fill them. And that. Does Mark
00:08:10Mark Carney, speaking a little earlier. earlier. Well, Ryan Majerus is a a partner at the international law
00:08:14law firm King and Spalding and a a former legal adviser on trade in
00:08:18in the last Trump administration. administration. Ryan, good to have
00:08:21have you here. And I mean, let's let's start first of all with that that that response from the White
00:08:25White House. What do you make of
00:08:26of it? So. You know, at this stage stage with the relationship with
00:08:30with Canada and the European Union, Union, I'm not surprised by the reaction. reaction. Obviously things are quite
00:08:34quite hostile between the US and and Canada. We're expecting pretty
00:08:37pretty significant tariffs to be be applied to the EU soon. Under
00:08:40Under a new section 301 investigation. investigation. So you know I don't
00:08:43don't think the I think the threats threats are very real. But I also
00:08:46also see why this is happening on on the Canadian and European side. side. The soft power dynamics have
00:08:50have changed quite a bit. And given given that Canada's free trade agreement
00:08:53agreement with the EU has not yet yet been ratified, this associate associate membership could provide
00:08:57provide a lot of avenues to collaborate. collaborate. Why is it being viewed
00:09:01viewed as a hostile deal though? though? I mean, you might say and
00:09:04and this is certainly the wording wording that's coming from the European European Union around Better Together,
00:09:08Together, the idea that Canada and and the EU could create something,
00:09:11something, be it trade, be it security,
00:09:12security, be it defence that currently
00:09:15currently Canada isn't able to do
00:09:17do with the US. So I think it's hard
00:09:19hard for this administration to separate separate everything happening with
00:09:23with Canada with this recent development. development. And I think that leads
00:09:25leads to some of the antagonism here. here. I think it's also important
00:09:29important to bear in mind the US US has a lot of trade concerns with with the European Union, not that
00:09:32that different than Canada. So there's there's always risk of the relationship
00:09:36relationship with the EU shifting shifting in a bad direction as well. well. Yeah. It's interesting. I spoke
00:09:40spoke on this programme yesterday yesterday to a politician in Canada Canada talking about actually they
00:09:43they feel like they're a bit of a a sandwich. They're caught between
00:09:45between the US in the south and then then to the north. A lot of this
00:09:49this contested territory that President President Trump has his eye on. They They say this is a security issue
00:09:52issue as much as it is a trade issue.
00:09:55issue. She has a point, doesn't she? she? So, you know, more and more
00:09:59more broadly, the US has had long long standing concerns with our trading trading partners. And again, no different
00:10:03different with Canada and the European European Union on, on non-tariff
00:10:06non-tariff barriers and other restrictions. restrictions. So I do think the underlying underlying goals of what they're
00:10:09they're trying to do on the trade
00:10:11trade side are there the strain currently currently between the US and Canada
00:10:15Canada obviously dovetails into a a lot of other issues beyond trade, trade, a lot of political issues
00:10:18issues now. And I think a lot of of those issues are also present present with the European Union.
00:10:22Union. The major difference between between the two is that the US and
00:10:25and the EU have a trade deal in response response to their reciprocal tariffs
00:10:28tariffs from last year. And I think think the ultimate question is going going to be does that agreement hold
00:10:32hold up? And what we heard from President President Trump, of course, was that
00:10:35that he may slap more tariffs on on the European Union, may decide
00:10:37decide not to trade with the EU at
00:10:39at all. Is that feasible? I don't
00:10:42don't see a scenario where we don't don't trade with the European Union
00:10:45Union going forward. I think the the risk is that currently we have
00:10:47have global tariffs in place against against the European Union. Under
00:10:50Under a section 301 investigation investigation on forced labour, there's
00:10:53there's going to be another 301 tariff tariff announcement likely in the
00:10:56the next couple of months on excess excess capacity. And the expectation
00:10:59expectation is those rates will stack stack on top of the existing rates.
00:11:03rates. So it's possible that you you see tariff rates substantially substantially rise. And the question
00:11:07question is going to be there's a a cap on tariffs with the European European Union under their trade
00:11:11trade agreement. Does that hold up up after this announcement is made. made. Ryan good to talk to you as
00:11:14as always. Thank you. Ryan Medeiros Medeiros there. Thank you. Now wearable
00:11:18wearable tech is a growing industry industry for tech firms but few have
00:11:22have nailed it completely. But today today it is the turn of Snap as it
00:11:25it launches its new eyewear. The The latest model is called specs,
00:11:28specs, and the firm says it enables
00:11:30enables an augmented reality experience
00:11:33experience using artificial intelligence.
00:11:35intelligence. Our North America technology technology correspondent Lily Jamali
00:11:38Jamali has been trying them
00:11:42out. Snap Inc here in Santa Monica, Monica, California is rolling out out what they're calling specs. These
00:11:46These are augmented reality glasses
00:11:48glasses that they say act as a fully fully standalone computer. But you
00:11:52you might look a little different different walking down the street.
00:11:55street. Now to use these AR glasses, glasses, I begin by pressing the
00:11:59the home button on my hand and in
00:12:01in front of me. What I see is a home
00:12:04home screen. Hey specs, play my morning
00:12:06morning playlist. The idea is to
00:12:08to be able to play music. Take me
00:12:11me the long way. For real time navigation,
00:12:14navigation, watch TV and movies and and enable working, shopping and
00:12:17and real time translation in dozens
00:12:20dozens of languages. So if I press
00:12:22press this button, I can capture
00:12:25capture a video. You should be able
00:12:27able to see a white flashing light
00:12:29light right here in between my eyes eyes on the glasses. That's there
00:12:33there to indicate that filming is is taking place. One criticism that's
00:12:36that's come up with this form factor factor in general is privacy. Many
00:12:40Many people don't like being filmed filmed in public without their knowledge. knowledge. I've seen instructions
00:12:44instructions online about how to to hide the LED. Metre, for example,
00:12:47example, says it's remotely disabled. disabled. The camera on its devices. devices. When the firm is detected,
00:12:51detected, users tampering with the the indicator light. These aren't
00:12:55aren't available to consumers just just yet. They are available for
00:12:58for pre-order, but consumers can can actually get their hands on these
00:13:01these in the UK., in the US as well
00:13:04well as France in the fall. So in in just a couple of months and the
00:13:07the retail price is 2195 US dollars.
00:13:11dollars. And that is your business.
00:13:12business. We'll see you soon. Bye-bye.
00:14:27high for Republicans and Democrats Democrats and for the American people. people. For the latest, follow us
00:14:30us on The President's Path here on
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00:14:40Verify. We use forensic investigative investigative techniques and tools
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00:14:49technology. Our journalists examine examine the evidence and get to the
00:14:52the facts. Watch our BBC Verify reports reports on the BBC News channel or
00:14:54or go online to find out more.
00:15:20Welcome back and let's get more
00:15:22on artificial intelligence with King
00:15:24King Charles urging tech bosses to
00:15:26to develop a sufficient means of of controlling the technology before,
00:15:30before, in his words, it all becomes becomes too late. Well, addressing
00:15:34addressing figures from Nvidia, Google, Google, DeepMind, OpenAI, Anthropic
00:15:37Anthropic and others, the King warned warned of the existential dangers
00:15:40dangers of AI falling into the wrong
00:15:42wrong hands. Well, Suresh Venkatasubramanian
00:15:46Venkatasubramanian is the director director of centre for Technological Technological Responsibility at Brown
00:15:49Brown University. I asked him a little little earlier what he thought of
00:15:52of the wealth of warnings that have have come from AI bosses. I have
00:15:56have very mixed feelings about this. this. On the one hand, I'm very glad