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NewsTranscript
00:00 Well, we're going to go straight to today's business news now.
00:02 Brian Quinn is with us.
00:03 He's starting in the US, in fact,
00:05 where the head of the country's central bank
00:06 says that interest rate cuts are coming.
00:08 But got this right, Brian?
00:10 Not yet.
00:10 Not just yet, Stuart.
00:12 Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell
00:14 addressed US lawmakers on Wednesday.
00:16 There's good news that the US economy is still
00:19 outperforming expectations, showing unexpected resilience
00:21 in the face of the highest interest rates since the 1990s.
00:25 And most analysts believe the Fed's benchmark rate
00:27 has peaked at its current 5 and 1/4 to 5 and 1/2%.
00:31 By the Fed's measure, inflation is nearly down
00:33 to its 2% target.
00:35 Now, the unemployment rate, meanwhile,
00:36 holding steady at a very low 3.6%.
00:39 Now, the less good news for investors and borrowers
00:42 is that that strength means the Fed will not be cutting rates
00:45 before June at the earliest.
00:48 Yeah, it looks like the Fed has managed to tame inflation then
00:51 without sparking a painful recession.
00:53 This is the proverbial soft landing
00:55 that everyone was hoping for, Stuart.
00:57 And it looks like they pulled it off.
00:58 The US economy grew 3% last year.
01:00 It's on track for 2% this year.
01:03 That is much better than was previously expected.
01:06 January's jobs report came in at a blistering 315,000
01:10 new non-farm payrolls.
01:11 So the labor market remains very strong.
01:14 Now, the inflationary outlook for the US
01:16 is giving off a lot of mixed signals.
01:18 Inflation has fallen plenty, as we just saw.
01:20 But the pressures are still there to drive it back up,
01:22 which is why the decision of when to cut
01:25 is a tricky one for Powell.
01:27 Take a listen here.
01:29 If the economy evolves broadly as expected,
01:32 it will likely be appropriate to begin dialing back policy
01:35 restraint at some point this year.
01:38 But the economic outlook is uncertain,
01:40 and ongoing progress toward our 2% objective for inflation
01:44 is not assured.
01:46 Jerome Powell there.
01:47 Now, here in Europe, new regulations on big tech firms
01:49 are set to change the way we use the internet.
01:52 Big deadline coming up tonight, Stuart.
01:54 The EU's Digital Markets Act comes into effect at 11.59pm
01:59 Thursday night.
02:00 The DMA's goal is to push back against monopolistic practices
02:04 by internet giants, forcing them to introduce
02:06 more consumer choices.
02:08 Antonia Kerrigan has the details.
02:11 It's the EU's stab at reining in the biggest of big tech,
02:15 the so-called gatekeepers.
02:17 Voted through in July 2022, the Digital Markets Act
02:21 is aimed at preventing these tech giants
02:23 from exploiting their monopoly, using one product
02:26 to push others on the user.
02:28 Some changes have already been implemented.
02:30 For instance, until recently, the Google search engine
02:33 put a clickable map front and centre,
02:35 leading directly to its Google Maps service.
02:38 Now, only by selecting directions
02:40 will the user be redirected.
02:42 And the decoupling of Facebook and Messenger,
02:44 as parent company Meta can no longer require Messenger users
02:48 to have a Facebook account.
02:50 Still to come, dominant WhatsApp and Messenger
02:53 will have to open the gates to interoperability
02:55 with other smaller platforms.
02:58 While behind the scenes on data protection,
03:00 personal data gathered through Instagram
03:03 cannot be shared with Facebook through parent company Meta
03:05 without user consent.
03:07 Same for Alphabet and its various platforms.
03:10 But does the EU have the firepower
03:12 to enforce these new rules in the face of the tech behemoths?
03:15 The European Commission has a team of 80 employees
03:18 focused on the Digital Markets Act,
03:20 while Google says they have thousands of engineers
03:22 working on their compliance with it.
03:24 The European competition chief says it can be done.
03:28 "I'm very happy with the DMA.
03:30 Very happy.
03:30 Also because we still have all the antitrust tools
03:34 that we use in individual cases.
03:37 So if creativity in illegal behaviour increases,
03:42 well, then we have other tools, even if the DMA would not
03:45 catch it."
03:46 Admitting, though, that the bloc
03:48 would have to pick and choose which cases to pursue.
03:51 But it's high stakes as companies risk as much as 20%
03:54 of their annual global revenue in fines for repeat violations.
03:59 Antonio Kerrigan there.
04:00 Let's have a look at the markets and how's the day's trading
04:02 action shaping up?
04:03 So Stuart, Asian indexes were mostly in the red on Thursday
04:06 following those signals from the US Fed as investors announced
04:08 the rate cuts coming later than previously expected.
04:12 The Nikkei in Tokyo pulling back a bit after Japanese stocks
04:15 hit record highs in recent days with the rising yen
04:17 taking a bite out of exporter shares.
04:19 Chinese indexes lost ground despite exports
04:22 jumping some 7% for January and February there.
04:26 Here in Europe, a muted open as well as investors
04:30 look ahead to the European central bank's next interest
04:33 rate call.
04:33 That's due out early this afternoon.
04:35 The ECB too is expected to keep its interest rate
04:38 at the current record high.
04:40 FTSE in London and the CAC here in Paris
04:42 each down around a third of a percent.
04:44 DAX in Frankfurt just barely above the flatline at the open.
04:48 Finally from Brian, we're going to go to Nigeria now.
04:50 Criticism is mounting against the oil giant Shell, which
04:54 announced last month that it was exiting the country.
04:56 This is after decades of operation there.
04:59 Stuart advocacy groups say the firm cannot be allowed
05:02 to leave without taking responsibility
05:05 for the pollution that it has caused
05:08 over decades of oil spills.
05:09 That it must first safely decommissioned
05:12 its abandoned infrastructure.
05:14 Local communities are also demanding
05:15 environmental restoration or compensation.
05:18 Vedika Bahel has the story.
05:19 Here in Ikarama, Chidioma heads to the lake he owns.
05:26 Though before he can fish, he has
05:28 to separate both crude oil and dirt from the water.
05:32 It used to be a source of income for the father of eight,
05:35 but things have changed since an oil spill in 2019.
05:39 People used to rent this lake to fish.
05:42 But now, because of the spill, they
05:45 are not coming again to rent the place again.
05:48 The family normally survive without a mentor.
05:52 That is our revenue.
05:53 But from the beginning of the spill now,
05:55 that revenue is not there again.
05:57 Communities here in Nigeria's Niger Delta region
06:00 are calling for compensation from British oil giant Shell
06:03 for land damaged by decades of oil spills,
06:06 polluting water and farmlands that locals
06:08 use for their livelihoods.
06:10 In January, the company announced it will exit Nigeria's
06:13 onshore operations, selling the business
06:15 to a local consortium of five companies for $2.4 billion.
06:20 But advocacy groups are calling on Shell
06:22 to safely clean up and dismantle its infrastructure
06:24 before leaving, saying the government must ensure it.
06:28 Especially in the era of a just transition,
06:31 especially in the era of divestment,
06:33 as international oil companies continue
06:37 to divest their assets, some leaving onshore totally,
06:41 like SBDC recently.
06:43 We are very concerned.
06:46 Who is going to address this legacy of pollution?
06:50 Shell pioneered Nigeria's oil and gas developments in 1937,
06:54 but often blamed local vandalism and theft
06:57 for broken pipelines, oil spills,
06:59 and environmental pollution.
07:01 And it states the new consortium would
07:03 be responsible for the previous oil spills.
07:06 So a long history of not just environmental damage,
07:09 but also political repression of Shell in Nigeria
07:12 as it gets set to exit their sewer.
07:14 Yeah, we should see how that develops.
07:15 Thanks, Brian.
07:15 Brian Quinn with the Business News for you here on France 24.