:00:01. > :00:11.drive opposition forces out of the second-biggest city using heavy
:00:11. > :00:19.
:00:19. > :00:24.weapons. Now for the latest financial news with Alex. All eyes
:00:24. > :00:31.on the American Federal Reserve today, it begins its 2-day policy
:00:31. > :00:38.meeting. Will there be some kind of economic stimulus announced? The
:00:38. > :00:48.boss of Sony tells us his company is hoping to catch up with Samsung
:00:48. > :00:49.
:00:49. > :00:54.and Nokia in the electronics race. With the US recovery faltering, all
:00:54. > :00:59.eyes will be on the American central bank. The Federal Reserve
:00:59. > :01:03.rips up a 2-day interest rate meeting on Wednesday. Financial
:01:03. > :01:09.markets would like them to announce another round of asset purchases.
:01:09. > :01:15.They need to stimulate the economy. But with the slowdown weighing on
:01:15. > :01:21.President Obama's hopes of election, action by the Spain could be
:01:21. > :01:24.controversial. The decision is made in Washington and when it comes the
:01:24. > :01:30.quantitative easing is carried out at the New York Federal Reserve.
:01:30. > :01:35.Nobody's expecting staff inside the building to begin another round of
:01:35. > :01:38.asset purchases after the meeting wraps up later this Wednesday. Many
:01:38. > :01:45.on Wall Street think that America's central bank will put of that
:01:45. > :01:50.decision until September. What can we expect to happen? Since they
:01:50. > :01:55.last met, the American economic picture has darkened. Manufacturing
:01:55. > :01:59.and retail sales figures have been a lot weaker. The American jobs
:01:59. > :02:03.picture is bleak. After that, worries about the knock-on effect
:02:03. > :02:07.of wires in Europe on the United States and weakening growth for
:02:07. > :02:11.China and India and the situation facing Ben Bernanke and his team
:02:11. > :02:15.has a lot riskier. The thinking is that the Federal Reserve will
:02:15. > :02:21.choose to push back the date of the next interest rate hike. In the
:02:21. > :02:27.past, they said the first rate hike would not happen until late 2014.
:02:27. > :02:34.That may not happen until 2015, leaving rates at a low level, much
:02:34. > :02:39.longer than anyone had expected. General Electric is one of
:02:39. > :02:45.America's largest corporations working in sectors from energy to
:02:45. > :02:53.Healthcall -- care. We asked the general manager how the what is
:02:53. > :02:57.worried -- how worried he is. Companies are accustomed to an
:02:57. > :03:05.emerging well that is volatile but offers growth. You have to invest
:03:05. > :03:09.more to be successful. If you do planning, not assuming a double dip,
:03:10. > :03:14.they will not be any magic wand. They will make Europe or America
:03:14. > :03:22.better. You have adjusted your company to that. That is the best
:03:22. > :03:30.policy you can have. A lot of until after the American elections.
:03:30. > :03:37.How difficult it's it for you to make decisions on collections.
:03:37. > :03:44.We'll big enough to power through. The small company sees no reason to
:03:44. > :03:50.invest in Europe and America. There is more your audience. We need to
:03:50. > :03:54.get certainty for more of the developing parts of the world. For
:03:54. > :04:01.the small and medium enterprises, the governments are not giving
:04:01. > :04:08.these people any stimulus to invest. How worried are you about events in
:04:08. > :04:14.Europe? It is a difficult process it is going through. Everybody is
:04:14. > :04:20.worried. I am a business Kyoko -- so the politics have to be dealt
:04:20. > :04:25.with quickly and in a robust fashion. Europe will be around.
:04:25. > :04:29.They will be a market that will be important overtime. We want to make
:04:29. > :04:34.sure we will be well positioned for when it gets reformed and
:04:34. > :04:37.restructured. What companies to is what governments have to do. You
:04:37. > :04:44.have to learn to cut costs and invest at the same time. We have
:04:44. > :04:49.always been comfortable with that. A more signs that the world's
:04:49. > :04:59.second-biggest economy is slowing down. The Chinese manufacturing
:04:59. > :05:05.
:05:05. > :05:10.index fell to an 8-month low in July. It is the decline in new
:05:10. > :05:15.orders of Chinese factories confirming exports have been hit by
:05:15. > :05:21.the slowdown in Europe and the US. Manufacturing activity falling to
:05:21. > :05:28.its lowest level in eight months, renewing lots of fears about a
:05:28. > :05:31.slowdown in the Chinese economy. Any reading above 50 indicates an
:05:31. > :05:35.expansion, any reading below means a contraction. Economists had
:05:35. > :05:41.expected the economy to pick up in the second half of this year. One
:05:41. > :05:45.of them said the numbers are not that bad. It does indicate an
:05:45. > :05:49.expansion after all. The data today increase his chances that China
:05:49. > :05:53.will introduce more stimulus measures. The leaders of the ruling
:05:53. > :05:59.party say they would keep adjusting polities to try to ensure stable
:05:59. > :06:07.growth. They described the external environment is posing lots of
:06:07. > :06:10.difficulties and challengers. There was a separate index released after
:06:10. > :06:15.the official statistics, indicating that manufacturer may have
:06:15. > :06:20.contracted at a slower pace in June. This has all painting a different
:06:20. > :06:29.picture from the official data. That survey covers 400 companies.
:06:30. > :06:33.It is weighted towards smaller businesses. It is not just the
:06:33. > :06:36.Olympics that are attracting businesses to London. The UK
:06:36. > :06:46.government is using the biggest sporting event and the will to
:06:46. > :06:47.
:06:47. > :06:54.bring together top agencies to do deals and win business. Japan's
:06:54. > :06:59.Sony is -- has in the past produced game changing gadgets like the
:06:59. > :07:03.PlayStation. We caught up with the head of sales -- Sony and asked him
:07:03. > :07:09.whether he was happy with the company's efforts to get back on
:07:09. > :07:15.top? The turnaround is encouraging and stimulating. We have had very
:07:15. > :07:19.bad luck with Ms fortunes and earthquakes. We have turned the
:07:19. > :07:26.company to a new generation. That is very important to modernise Sony
:07:26. > :07:31.as it moves from an analogue world to a digital world. I'm encouraged.
:07:31. > :07:40.30 years ago, it was the global leader with electronics. Now we
:07:40. > :07:44.have Android and not here, what you do about the competition?
:07:44. > :07:50.Everything moves very quickly. We were a fine leader three years ago.
:07:50. > :07:56.We did not have Google. We lead in many different areas. Sony is like
:07:56. > :08:02.a giant department store. If you go into a movie theatre you will see
:08:02. > :08:09.Sony equipment and a movie projectors. There are not pure sine
:08:09. > :08:15.products. We have 900 products. If you concentrate on smart phones,
:08:15. > :08:20.you'll notice we will do well in something else. We excel in cameras
:08:20. > :08:23.more than we did before. You have to hedge your bits and go in
:08:23. > :08:32.different directions. The smartphone will make other
:08:32. > :08:38.businesses more difficult. You have to adapt to change. He could be on
:08:38. > :08:43.top one minute and not the next day and be back on top a minute later.
:08:43. > :08:49.Does Sony have a different problem that it is too diversified? You
:08:49. > :08:56.have to focus on specific areas, how do you find a niche? You try to
:08:56. > :09:01.find a winning strategy. Now we are very dominant with camels. The fund
:09:01. > :09:07.Danish we could add to. They're very strong with components and
:09:07. > :09:11.image sensors. The image sensor makes the iPhone successful. The
:09:11. > :09:19.innovation that Sony uses it goes in many different ways. That is why
:09:19. > :09:24.the flood was difficult, because we make so many components for other
:09:24. > :09:29.companies. The into it relationship with other companies are is
:09:29. > :09:39.interchangeable. You cannot pin it down with one single problem like
:09:39. > :09:45.you did in the 1970s and 80s. stocks mostly down. They are mixed.
:09:45. > :09:53.The regional benchmarks index was down. The debt crisis in Europe