of borrowing, as the economy grapples with a major cost—of—living crisis. china's growth recovery is also concerning amid a persistent property crisis and soft domestic consumption. added to that are geopolitical tensions, with wars in ukraine and the middle east fueling global uncertainty. i spoke with jameel ahmad, chief analyst at gtc group about what to look out for in the second half of the year. it was unprecedented because it was adding everything into your shopping basket. if you look at the s&p 500, new record highs more than 30 times. those are the records that co—ceo know rinaldo would be jealous of an israeli cabinet. it wasn'tjust us stock market with a fantastic start of the year. there were also hides for coco, bitcoin, and the nvidia supercharged towards becoming the largest company in the world by market capitalisation. but generally speaking we have also had some solid fundamentals. despite the highest interest rate policy and generations, particularly the united states, corporate earnings have been strong. the biggest question that investors demand answers for is uncertainty around the federal reserve, the us central bank, and when they will begin cutting us interest rates. speaking of that, what do you think will happen, or the pace that the fed might act? the lace is that the fed might act? the place is going _ that the fed might act? the place is going to _ that the fed might act? the place is going to be - that the fed might act? tue: place is going to be slow. that the fed might act? tte: place is going to be slow. i think that september is likely, but we can't rule out that it might be pushed back towards christmas, which would mean december. generally speaking we are expecting the central bank to start this journey to cut interest rates first and pull the trigger. we have seen the likes of this was national bank, de european central bank, and were expecting to see the bank of england cut interest rates in the coming months. when it comes to the us economy, growth is slowing, but it is still performing reasonably well compared to its developed peers. at the same point, looking at corporate earnings, and looking at the trajectory of inflation has dropped by nearly — from 9% two years ago towards 3%. it is like being on a diet. it has lost a lot of weight but now we're seeing a plateau and we're seeing a plateau and we're starting to go a bit above 3%. in the united kingdom and europe, inflation is because it was target. i think thatis because it was target. i think that is the biggest in certainty right now when it comes to the fed. i was also that september is likely and we should overall, though, get a us interest rate is cut desolate us interest cut this year, but not as much as expected. —— i was also say that september is likely and we should overall, though, get a us interest rate cut this year, but not as much as expected. in other news, reuters and the financial times are reporting that boeing has agreed to acquire sprit aerosystems in a deal that values the company at $4.7 billion. according to the reports, an official announcement could come as soon as monday, but the deal will still have to gain regulatory approval. spirit aerosystems supplies aircraft parts to both boeing and airbus currently. apple's vision pro headset has launched in asia, arriving in stores across china, singapore, japan and hong kong. the device has been on sale since february, but this is the first time the vision pro will be available for purchase outside the us. according to reports, the mixed reality headset retails in china for roughly 18% more than its price in the us. turning to the pharmaceutical industry, where the world of weight—loss has been revolutionised by a new wave of drugs. ozempic is probably the most famous, becoming a byword for rapid weight loss among hollywood celebrities due to its appetite suppressing properties. us pharmaceutical giant eli lilly has similar offerings of its own and their popularity has sent its share price soaring. the bbc�*s sean farrington spoke to the company's boss and started by asking him how much of an impact these drugs will have on the world. obesity is known, and has been shown in surgical intervention studies, but also in lifestyle intervention, when you can mitigate obesity in adulthood, you can mitigate downstream disease at some scale. there are estimates that 40% of healthca re costs, and maybe a little more that of chronic disease for adults is connected directly to overweight and obesity. of course, cardiovascular disease and diabetes are the largest categories of those things, but there are many, many other untoward conditions that can be impacted by obesity. we know that if people can lose weight by diet and exercise, which is the first line of care, and we have long—term studies on surgical intervention, and now short—term interventions like medicines that lilly makes, we can impact the diseases that are downstream of overweight and obesity. if these medicines work like diet and exercise, or medical interventions, we have an chance to address 40% of adult disease, which is pretty significant impact on the world. when you say the first line of care is diet and exercise, are you concerned that this could overtake that concept as a first line of care, because they can inject something in you, take a pill, instead of actually improving your lifestyle 7 those concerns are often expressed. i see them in social media, popular media, and even in medical circles. 0ur position as a company — our point of view is — and this is how we do our clinical studies, which is important. the data we demonstrate for these medications we have studied or will study in the future always has diet and exercise, calorie restricted diet, daily movement, depending on someone's other morbidities, as the baseline of care. and then we add or don't have the medication to that and see the difference. that should always be the case. i think there is greater evidence that if you are a healthy body weight and you want to prevent these diseases that are driven by obesity, the best way to prevent those diseases is maintained a long—term healthy diet and exercise regimen. turning now to the euros, where the round of 16 kicked off over the weekend. england, spain, germany and switzerland have all made it to the quarterfinals. this year's tournament in germany is estimated to generate over $2.5 billion. key to that revenue is sponsorships, and this year, six of the sponsors are from china, including aliexpress, vivo, and electric vehicle maker byd. i spoke with sporting sponsorship expert ben cronin and asked him why chinese brands are taking an interest in the european market, despite rising trade tensions between china and the eu. yes, that's right, so it's because they have the appetite and the money to be able to do it. that hasn't necessarily been the case for a lot of western brands. i think in most cases they want to use the event to build market share in europe. but it also allows them to reach consumers in asia. it is, after all, it's a truly global event — it's watched all around the world. there is also evidence that chinese brands like the fact that national team football is less tribal, more family friendly than, kind of, football. i think chinese consumers are also attracted to these big flagship moments of national pride. but it's not an entirely new phenomenon. brands like alipay, hisense and vivo have sponsored the tournament before. what do you think about the way peer playing such a big part when it comes to the fact that the eu and are locked in a struggle over ev and ev products? uefa tried to get a german brand, a german car brand to consider the event. volkswagen was the incumbent. they sponsored 2020. but they chose not to for cost reasons. mercedes were offered the opportunity to sponsor the event and declined. there is a perception that german brands have, you know, suffered the consequences of the omission scandal, covid—i9, and also slow ev sales. there is a perception that companies like byd has stolen a bit ofa march on them in terms of their ability to develop affordable, high—quality electric and hybrid vehicles. then there is technology responses and the event and so on. , ., ., . on. they have introduced virtual advertising, - on. they have introduced i virtual advertising, allowing them to put different marketing messages on pit side led boards. if you are watching in china you will see different marketing messages to what you would see, you know, if you are watching in london, so you can have messages in mandarin for chinese consumers, alex perez, for example, there is a campaign where there side led boards are in english for here in london. —— ali express. pitch side advertising is to be blunt instrument but now it is an opportunity to make it more tailored. before we go, disney and pixar�*s inside out 2 is officially part of the billion dollar club. the animated film has officially earned the title of top grossing film for 2024, as it crossed a billion dollars at the box office on sunday. it's also the first movie to hit that milestone since warner brothers' barbie crossed the mark last year. inside out 2 was released just three weeks ago. for more news and updates, log onto our website. and that's it for this edition of business today. bye for now. thanks for watching. hello. you're watching sportsday on bbc news. i'm ben croucher. coming up, better late than never: england reached the last eight at the euros, but did it the hard way. late drama in austria, too — we'll show you how george russell won his fi win. and andy murray leaving it late on the eve of wimbledon — the two—time champion is still to decide if he will be fit. thank you very much forjoining us.