the ai boom propelling alphabet and microsoft's quarterly numbers, as shares of both tech giants rise. china kicks off its biggest showcase of cars, as electric vehicles take center—stage at the beijing auto show. hello and welcome to asia business report. i'm mariko oi. we begin in the us, where two tech giants, microsoft and google parent alphabet, have reported strong first quarter results, with the artificial intelligence boom at the centre of it all. erin delmore has the details. among the dozens of companies reporting first—quarter earnings on thursday, alphabet and microsoft took centre

stage. both beat expectations on earnings and revenue, thanks in no small part to investments in no small part to investments in artificial intelligence, one stand out spot for alphabet was google cloud revenue which jumped 28% in quarter one. a lot of generative ai tools that rely on the cloud to reach customers. alphabet announced good news for investors, its first—ever dividend of 20 cents per share, and first—ever dividend of 20 cents pershare, and an first—ever dividend of 20 cents per share, and an additional $70 billion buy—back. that sent shares into double digits after the bill. for microsoft's part, it's intelligent cloud division delivered greater revenue than expected thanks to microsoft partnership but with openai, the creator of chat gbd. and together, they should go some way through restoring confidence in the tech sector which was shaken wednesday after meda's stock fell after its earnings report and the market was rattled by slowing us gdp and stubborn inflation. let's stay in the us

where the latest data show its economy grew at its slowest pace in nearly two years in the first three months of the year. traditional demand is what led to the lower forecast. let's stay in the us where the latest data show its economy grew at its slowest pace in nearly two years in the first three months of the year. the personal consumption expenditures price index, which is a key indication of inflation — rose 3.4% for the quarter. investors are now trimming their expectations that the federal reserve will cut rates before september. as we've been reporting on newsday, us secretary of state is meeting chinese officials on a three—day trip. tensions over economic ties have been a flash point between washington and beijing. antony blinken has called for a level playing field for american companies doing business in china. our business reporter this morning monica millerjoins us

live from the newsroom. explain to us what mr blinken means by fair treatment for american companies? yeah, well this is the latest _ american companies? yeah, well this is the latest high _ american companies? yeah, well this is the latest high level - this is the latest high level meeting between washington and beijing, officials. and one of the things he did raise concerns is about some of china's business practices, nonmarket practices as well as manufacturing capacities. 0ne manufacturing capacities. one of the things that washington is toying with is the idea of imposing tariffs on products such as electric vehicles which china makes many many of them and their prices are exceedingly low. so having them flood the market would really hinder american car—makers. now, mr blinken met with leaders, business leaders that are part of the american chamber of commerce there and they have been arguing for what mr blinken has said is a level playing field and what they mean by that is that the chinese have heavily subsidised

certain industries like electric vehicles and solar panels and lithium—ion batteries, theyjust can't compete with that on the global market. in regards to what mr blinken spoke about, here's what a spokesperson for the foreign ministry had to say. translation: china has always economic trade _ translation: china has always economic trade competition, - economic trade competition, earnestly respect the principle of fair competition, and works with china to create favourable conditions for the sound and steady development of china us economic trade relations. this happened _ economic trade relations. this happened hours _ economic trade relations. this happened hours after- economic trade relations. this happened hours after president biden signed into law a bill that would band the chinese parent company of tiktok from being able to function in the united states if they don't divest their part of the company. company has already said that it is looking into the legal action.

studio: thank you so much for that update. there are a lot of things they need to discuss as blinken visits china. meanwhile, the us federal communications commission has reinstated net neutrality rules that gives it oversight of broadband internet. net neutrality refers to the idea that internet service providers should offer access to all content regardless of the source. they were repealed during the trump era in 2017, because they blocked innovation and led to a decline in industry investments. under the restored rules, it has now barred chinese telecom companies from offering broadband services in the us due to national security concerns. sticking with china, the country's largest auto show has kicked off in beijing, with car—makers showing off their latest electric vehicles. china is currently the world's biggest car market and the world's biggest car exporter, and has seen stiff competition over the past year especially amongst domestic players. i spoke with auto analyst bill russo, who gave us his outlook for the chinese car market.

we can see from it so far, the continuation on focus on electrification with dominance of the chinese companies who now have almost 80% share of the electric vehicle segment. that's even significantly into the gasoline powered vehicles which are down significantly from a few years ago by more than 10 million units. the other important trend is the emergence of these smart device companies that are now present on the landscape. show —— shaomei. an emergency of a company as both a supplier and manufacturer through contracting manufacturers through a brand called ito. fist

through a brand called ito. at the same time the market almost feels saturated and the economy not doing so well so in terms of sales of those ev�*s, what kind of numbers are we saying? the ev share of the market is for passenger vehicles 35%. three individually owned vehicles the purchase right now in china are electric vehicles, thatis in china are electric vehicles, that is coming in a market that is not growing, the market overall has been negative since 2017. in terms of domestic sales. so for every ev that sold, there is at least one fewer gasoline powered vehicles so it's cannibalising the gasoline powered segment which is creating a bit of a structural problem for china with far too many factories configured to build the wrong types of products. figs configured to build the wrong types of products.— types of products. as you mentioned, _ types of products. as you mentioned, china - types of products. as you mentioned, china has - types of products. as you l mentioned, china has been accused of producing way too many cars, we seen factories cutting production or even closing, will that continue?

china is guilty of obsolete doing its own manufacturing industry when it comes to gasoline powered vehicles being less popular now. by eroding, by successfully getting consumers to consider and purchase cvs, it's created a structural problem for its own market with fewer demand in china before gasoline powered vehicles but with their finding is there is demand for good value for the money. everywhere in the world, and that's cause china to be the largest export country in the world for all types of vehicles. 4.9 million vehicles were exported from china last year, and three out of every four of those vehicles were gasoline powered. there's plenty of demand in the world for affordability. now over to japan where the central bank will announce its latest review of monetary policy later this morning. i spoke with economic columnist and author william pesek, who explained all the dynamics at

play currently in the japanese economy. the economy is about, nikkei is going gangbusters, this year japan is experiencing a big influx of tourism, then you have the japanese yen which we are beginning to call the japanese peso in passing. again, it's quite a split screen. in many ways, global investors are looking at the eerie silence from tokyo. we are seeing the ministry of finance, we are saying the bank of japan make finance, we are saying the bank ofjapan make some noises finance, we are saying the bank of japan make some noises about how we don't like the young weakening so much, but there's been no official action, and there's been this kind of balancing act i think. 0n the one hand japanese officials are keeping their heads down, saying, well, you know, the yen is weak but the trade numbers are improving because of that but at the same time we don't want the yen to go so far which might spook global marketing will create a double medic problem if you will.- will create a double medic problem if you will. what can the authorities _ problem if you will. what can the authorities do _ problem if you will. what can the authorities do about - problem if you will. what can the authorities do about it? | problem if you will. what can l the authorities do about it? we all know that when they intervene, the impact doesn't last very long and it's hugely

expensive. i last very long and it's hugely “pensive-— expensive. i think one of the reasons why _ expensive. i think one of the reasons why you _ expensive. i think one of the reasons why you have - expensive. i think one of the reasons why you have not i expensive. i think one of the i reasons why you have not seen action, as you just mentioned, is because intervention often doesn't work. the problem is thatjapan doesn't work. the problem is that japan when it does intervene, it's unilateral and intervention. you basically have to have the federal reserve, the ec, you have to have the g for seven involved for intervention to matter. 0ne for intervention to matter. one of the reasons why japan isn't acting they're worried it will backfire and fail, they are worried they will step in and the young will fall anyway. that happened basically in 2022, and in many ways you see this steering match between japanese officials and traders wondering where things are heading in the days ahead. let's look at markets, the japanese and will have an impact, but wall street flat to lower come of this was before microsoft and also that which sent their shares higher in after—hours trading. that's it for the show, thanks for

watching.

hey, i'm zoff with the catch up. tonight — schoolkids smoking, gigs getting cancelled, and a dog with a robot. we start with something that might shock you, though. england has the highest rate of school kids drinking alcohol of more than 40 countries. that's according to the world health organization. they looked at 280,000 11—15 year olds and found by the age of 13, just over half of girls and half of boys had drunk alcohol. the study also found teenage girls are more likely to smoke than boys. and two in five girls in england and scotland have tried vaping by the time they're 15.

numbers of young people drinking in the uk has been falling, though, but experts want more to be done to stop it. a 13—year—old girl has been charged with three counts of attempted murder after two teachers and a pupil were stabbed at a school in south west wales. police say the three victims have all been released from hospital. next, rebel wilson's autobiography has finally been released in the uk, but certain sections have been covered up here. it's because of allegations against borat star sacha baron cohen, which he denies. bits believed to be about him, have been hidden. and there's cancellations all around in music. kid cudi has been forced to scrap his world tour after breaking his foot at coachella. and kim petras had to cancel all her summer festival performances because of health issues. time now to leave you with ten seconds of a guide dog becoming friends with a robot after a specially arranged date. amelia reacted badly

to the delivery bot when they first met, but now, as you can see, it is all fun and games. i love it. you're all caught up now. see you later. hello and welcome to sportsday with me, lizzie greenwood—hughes. here's what's coming up... manchester city close in on arsenal at the top of the premier league. shock in f1 as the man behind red bull's success says he's leaving the team. and seven—time world champion ronnie 0'sullivan powers past his opponant at the crucible. proving age isjust a number. what is possible in this game, how long can you keep going

for?