We begin with the battle of the retail giants. Heavyweights from china and the us get ready to unveil there latest results. The chinese online giant alibaba will tell us how it performed in the first quarter. Then just a few hours later americas walmart, the biggest retailer in the world, will unveil its latest earnings. Investors will be looking to see if the companies have been affected by the trade war between the us and china. Alibaba, which is like amazon, paypal and twitter rolled into one, has a growing Cloud Computing service and announced its expanding its business to Business Service in the us. It is. 24 trillion, and alibaba wants a slice of that pie. Meanwhile, walmart is proving it can do business on the high street and online. The companys e commerce sales increased a1 in the last four quarters. Its also added 2,000 new brands to the website in recent months which has been a boost to profits as well as helping it take on rival amazon. But the big risk factor for both is the trade war between the us and china. Alibaba wants to expand into the us which has become more difficult as the trade war rages and walmart relies on chinese imports to stock its shelves, so if those prices go up the company will have to decide whether to absorb the cost or pass it on to customers. Samira hussain reports from new york. For a Retail Company like walmart, these tariffs are not good for business. Walmarts credit, however, has been able to protect itself from big hits to its online by planning ahead and stockpiling inventory. But investors will want to hear how the company will continue to deal with a trade war that wont end anytime soon. But these walmart shoppers in newjersey are concerned about another issue altogether. newjersey are concerned about another issue altogether. I heard there taking away violent video games but they wont stop selling guns, which is something that doesnt make sense to me. Its a family shopping place. Maybe if they open a separate store for the guns, thats different, but not ina walmart, the guns, thats different, but not in a walmart, no. Run, run, run the recent deadly shootings in texas and 0hio have renewed calls for walmart to stop selling firearms, although guns represent less than i of sales walmart will no doubt address the issue with wall street. But walmart also wants to see an end to the trade war with china, and one a nalyst leaves to the trade war with china, and one analyst leaves it can play a big role in making that happen. Walmart can be the proverbial ben franklin ambassador between the prc and the Us Government to come up with a constructive, cooperative resolution on the tariffs because walmart with operations from the prc and worldwide is even more influential than amazon or any companies serving the consumer anywhere in the world. The trump administrations decision to delay new duties on some chinese imports is good news for retailers like walmart. It means the all important like walmart. It means the all importa nt holiday like walmart. It means the all important Holiday Shopping season all important Holiday Shopping season wont take a hit and it also gives the company just season wont take a hit and it also gives the companyjust a little more incentive to play the role of mediator. Samira hussain, bbc news, new jersey. Christian polman from marketing specialists ebiquityjoins us now. Lets ta ke lets take a look little bit deeper. Good morning good to see you. You we re good morning good to see you. You were listening to all of that. As far as these two enormous retailers are concerned, today when they released their results, we wont see the impact of the trade war, or will we . Probably not, its a bit early for that to have a Material Impact at this stage. There might be early signs and if anything it will be more guidance that comes with that and the forward looking guidance in particular, how these two businesses might see that factoring in. The reality is we have to wait a bit more, and there is also bigger storms brewing. We know equity yields have inverse, and that could speu yields have inverse, and that could spell some interesting commentary from them both in terms of where the economies might be heading. 0bviously these two businesses represent Consumer Spending more than anything else, so theres a really important signal from these businesses in terms of where heading economically more broadly. Thats a really interesting point, because id imagine for investors and analysts, thats what theyre really looking for, any signs this fear factor of markets that we are looking at a global recession in the near future, that alibaba and walmart are showing signs of that, because both of them represent Consumer Spend in the two biggest economies in the world. Yeah, and its a very important part of the economy because as we all know, its been heating up due to the e commerce race. Everyone is trying to capitalise on the growth of e commerce. The battle between walmart and aliba ba e commerce. The battle between walmart and alibaba is against amazon more than anyone else. In china its a bit more complex because you only have two players in the digital centre, tencent and alibaba. There are others obviously but they both represent a majority of the digital space. Their increasingly having to butt heads more and more they are. That means they have to grow into each others spaces, and it will be interesting to see the alibaba strategic choices into where it expands to try to enter that race more aggressively. In the us, its a bit more clear cut. Walmart has to ta ke bit more clear cut. Walmart has to take on amazon. They have a small fraction of the e Commerce Market as of now. But they have done really well in that . They have done really well, absolutely, really growing their presence through partnerships isa their presence through partnerships is a big part of it. Their advantages the footprint, they have an incredible footprint to leverage andi an incredible footprint to leverage and i believe there plans is 800 more stores this year advantage is. Well watch this space, will get the numbers later and thanks for your analysis this morning, christian. Both those releases happening around the us trading day because alibaba is listed in the us. Lets turn to global markets. There have been dramatic falls on wall street, with the three main us stock markets closing down 3 . Its because of fears about a possible recession in the us and germany, as well as the impact of the us china trade war. Shares in asia have pared back earlier losses. Michelle fleury has more from new york. From the moment the us Financial Markets began trading, investors started selling. Wea k started selling. Weak Economic Data from china and germany really lead to the havoc on Financial Markets, sparking global recession fears. China is the second largest economy germany is the economic backbone of europe. Nowhere was that concern more apparent than in the bond market, where governments and companies go to borrow money by selling bonds. The yield curve between a ten year and a two year bond briefly in the. Thats complicated jargon that essentially means investors are willing to be paid less to wait longer to get their money back. Why does any of that matter . Well, historically inverted yield curves have signalled an economic recession is just around the corner. Chief economist at grant thornton, diane mac three, doesnt think we should ignore the bond markets morning. Im very worried about a possible recession, ive been worried for a long time about a recession in 2020 because of the factors where seeing. Its not one tariff or action but its a snowball effect, in isolation we look like we can withstand them but when you get the reaction and retaliation from other countries and you start chipping away at the overall Global Economic pie, at some point youre going to be worried whats left for all of us to eat. Donald trump wants to make the economy a central part of his case for re election in 2020, a pitch harder to make if the economy goes south. Donald trump called us fed chiefjerome powell clueless for trying to deflect the turmoil on the. The third doesnt buoy the markets like it used to, so its not clear if this could dent the damage from the ongoing trade war with china the fed. Lets go to our Asia Business hub, where rico hizon is following the latest developments. Whats happening now . The heavy losses we saw at the start of the asian trading session seem to have calmed down a bit . Thats right. We saw a calming of the markets in midday trading. Asian equities bouncing back after steep falls in early trading as an inverted us bond yield curve, as mentioned by michelle, sending a warning to investors about the risk of a recession in the united states. Investors are recession in the united states. Investors a re basically recession in the united states. Investors are basically buying back oversold stocks injapan, australia and hong kong. Despite the turnaround, sally, Investors Sentiment is still very nervous and it also doesnt help Economic Data from china and germany suggests a faltering Global Economy hit by the worsening us china trade war, brexit and geopolitical tensions stop and its been a rollercoaster ride for the markets. 0n its been a rollercoaster ride for the markets. On wednesday, stocks gained after donald trump delayed imposing tariffs on some imports from china until december the 15th and the products include mobile phones, laptops, video game consoles and some toys. According to a nalysts, and some toys. According to analysts, expect more volatility in the markets in the days ahead. Sally. All right, ive got my seatbelt on. Word nice to see you rico. That is the business briefing. More than 300,00 students in england, wales and Northern Ireland will receive their a level results this morning. More than a quarter of entries are expected to score a top grade. This is the first summer that marks for the new specification of a level maths are being awarded. Chi chi izundu spoke to students in blackpool to see how they were feeling. Two years of study followed by exam after exa m, two years of study followed by exam after exam, and now the hope of congratulations. Hundreds of thousands of students in england have sat the new style a levels. Very little coursework and a final examination makes the grade. But for these pupils in blackpool, it was an experience. Were used to being guinea pigs. It was the full 18 things over two years and we had to remember everything in a two hour paper where used to. To remember everything in a two hour paper where used to. These new exams are a test of how well you can answer an exam question. But how these a levels are being graded has raised concern with lea ked graded has raised concern with leaked papers revealing to get an a in maths, the most popular subject, you only need 167 marks out of 300, just 55 . A lot of people doing the exams in found them hard but didnt put the work in. A mix of old style and new exams are being taken in wales and Northern Ireland. Theres also been a rise in the unconditional offer from universities where students are given a place regardless of what grade they get. That does worry me that some students may choose to go to university or study a particular course that perhaps they hadnt thought of but theyve made that choice taste purely on an unconditional offer. But choices aside, how are their slot feeling about finding out how they did . Incredibly nervous. Nervous, yeah chi chi izundu, bbc news. Good like to you all if youre awake now and worried for that story and more, Charlie Stayt and Naga Munchetty will be on breakfast coming up at 6am. This is the briefing from bbc news. The latest headlines indias prime minister, narendra modi, has described his governments decision to revoke kashmirs autonomy as a major achievement. In a speech to mark independence day, he said its previous special status had prevented kashmiris from fulfilling their aspirations. Italys interior minister Matteo Salvini says hes ready to sign an order to prevent a migrant rescue ship from docking. A Regional Court had granted it permission, reportedly because of the condition of the people on board. Britains main opposition leader, jeremy corbyn, has outlined plans to stop britain leaving the eu without a deal in october. He aims to win a vote of no confidence, head a caretaker administration, delay brexit and call an election. Now its time to look at the stories that are making the headlines in the media across the world. We begin with the financial times, which says alarm bells are ringing for the prospect of a global recession. On to the irish times, which is covering comments from key us democrat nancy pelosi who says therell be no trade deal with the uk if it undermines the good friday agreement. The wef website picks up on changes in finland, as ive mentioned, where from next year, employees will be able to chose where and when they spend half of their working hours. It will be a legal right as it were. The verge among many tech sites covering changes at amazon. From september, unwanted warehouse stock in the us and the uk will be donated by default rather than being thrown away. And, finally, weve seen plenty of stories about face tracking in the media this week. Facial recognition. Well, cnet, has one womans attempts to thwart it. Shes got a clothing range that tricks the technology her dress makes cameras think shes a car. You can see her dress there. That is one example of the clothes she is making. Everyone has an idea. It is just whether it takes off. With me is alpesh patel, whos ceo of private equity firm praefinium partners. Many would say perfectly qualified to talk about our top story