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World Business Report: First broadcast 2017/03/03 22:32 GMT: Yellen Signals March Rate Rise

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First broadcast 2017/03/03 22:32 GMT

First broadcast 2017/03/03 22:32 GMT: Yellen Signals March Rate Rise

Yellen Signals March Rate Rise

BBC World Service - World Business Report, Yellen Signals March Rate Rise

The Chair of the Federal Reserve also says it could be the first of several this year

The Chair of the Federal Reserve indicates a potential rise in US interest rates later in March if the economy stays on track. Janet Yellen also says that the central bank is likely to raise rates more quickly than over the past two years.

China's top political body has opened its annual meeting in Beijing, two days before the start of the National People's Congress. The gathering of the country's top law making body gives the Chinese Communist Party an opportunity to agree the way forward on economic strategy. However new reforms are unlikely amid expectations of Chinese leaders reinforcing the need to stop surging debt and limit financial risks to keep growth steady. Andrew Peaple of the Wall Street Journal in Hong Kong, gives us his predictions for the decisions to be announced at the NPC this weekend.

The US car giant General Motors is closing in on a deal to sell its loss-making European arm, Opel,and its British brand Vauxhall, to PSA in France. PSA, which makes Peugoet and Citroen cars, has declined to give long term commitments to protect jobs, However automotive experts believe it will have to cut the workforce at factories across Europe to revive Opel, which has made politicians and trade unions in France, Germany and the UK anxious to protect workers from the axe. The BBC's Russell Padmore reports on Opel's future under French ownership. 

It has been another busy week for the BBC's Business News Team following developments like President Donald Trump's first address to the US Congress, the latest in the French presidential race, an argument between the boss of Uber and a taxi driver over prices and a winning stockmarket debut for the company that owns Snapchat. We reflect on the week's events in the business world with Soumeya Keynes of The Economist and Jason Abbruzzese, from Mashable in New York. 

Nintendo's new Switch games console is now on sale, which saw excited customers form lines to buy the device in Tokyo, London and New York. Nintendo has a lot riding on the portable device, which can also be used as a home console. After the failure of the Wii U some experts claim this could be a make or break launch for Nintendo. BBC reporter Will Bain gets the opinions of consumers in London and we ask Charlotte Palfrey from Ovum, what will constitute success for Nintendo? 

(Picture: Janet Yellen. Credit: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP)

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