China's economy is sending mixed signals.
It's World Business Express from the BBC World Service.
I am Bissi Adibayo.
Also, Spain and Gibraltar mark a historic border agreement.
And 20 years since Twitter launched, what's its business legacy?
China's latest economic figures are telling two different stories.
Exports are continuing to grow, but at home, consumers are still spending cautiously and businesses are investing less.
While the world's second largest economy grew by over 4 between April and June, and that's its slowest pace in more than three years.
I've been speaking to Shiana Yu, Senior Economist at Oxford Economics.
It's really the households that have been holding back the Chinese economy.
Exports remain the bright spot here, and that's driven by AI and electric vehicles.
So can China actually continue to rely on exports when demand at home is so weak and trade tensions are even rising geopolitically?
Yes, China would be able to continue relying on exports for at least the next couple of years.
That's primarily because the policymakers have already set out a plan for the next five years focusing very heavily on advanced manufacturing.
So that's going to be the key way forward for the next couple of years.
Unfortunately, the problem here is that that's not translating yet into a broader improvement in the domestic economy.
So right now we think that exports will remain the key growth driver for this year and probably into next year.
Thereafter, we expect some of that to begin trickling down into household spending.
So eventually, some of that household spending finally start to recover in earnest.
How much of today's slowdown is linked to the conflict in the Middle East?
Well, I think the slowdown that we've seen in the data released today, what it actually suggests is that the Chinese economy has actually absorbed the initial shock fairly well.
It doesn't seem to have materially derailed the economy.
For instance, we said exports are still doing really well.
From the inflation data.
What this has suggested, or this is telling us rather, is that a lot of this higher cost is being absorbed by the producers.
It's not really reaching the households yet.
Consumer price inflation has been pretty stable and very low compared to what we're seeing elsewhere in the world.
So for now, China's been able to tide through what's been the initial shock.
However, moving forward, what we're seeing is that if geopolitical tensions persist, such as right now, where oil prices have once again risen, And if that stays that way, you know, it would present another headwind for Chinese growth.
Shiana Yu from Oxford Economics there.
Well, one positive has been electric vehicles though, because Chinese EV exports continue to surge and higher oil prices are prompting more people at home to switch from petrol cars to electric vehicles and taxis.
Bill Russo is former chief executive of Chrysler China and now founder of the Shanghai-based consultancy Automobility.
China's advantage right now is being able to scale electric transportation and the ability to produce.
Three out of every four electric vehicle batteries are now made in China.
Having a supply chain to produce the highest cost components of these types of vehicles gives Chinese companies decided competitive advantage.
And as demand increases, that's the supply side advantage.
The demand increase has been largely something that China couldn't create on its own.
External factors have driven energy prices for fossil fuels higher.
And that has created a huge tailwind for Chinese companies, now prepared to handle demand for a lower cost of operation of electric vehicles.
Bill Russo there.
Well, let's bring in Danny Hewson, who's head of financial analysis at AJ Bell.
Danny, how are markets reacting to this data from China?
Yeah, it's of global significance what we see from China in terms of its economic power.
And we've seen London listed miners really investors being spooked by this surprising fall in growth.
So we've seen a sell off because the fears that you know, with economic growth falling back, that we might see a scale back in commodity purchases.
So the likes of Fresnillo and Antofagasta significantly down today.
Away from China, Danny.
One of the biggest names in online payments PayPal, could soon have a new owner.
Yeah, absolutely.
A household name for a lot of people.
It really got caught on the hop by the advent of Apple and Google Pay.
And it's struggled over the last few years, particularly after the pandemic boom.
So now we've got Stripe, which is a payment startup and a challenger to PayPal, joining forces with private equity group Advent International and jointly offering to snap up the company for more than 53 billion, which is a premium to where it was at its close on Tuesday, but still significantly down to where it was even last year and certainly way down on the highs of 2021.
Thanks, Danny Hewson from AJ Bell.
It's been 20 years since the launch of Twitter.
The social media platform grew from a simple messaging service into one of the world's most widely used platforms, playing a major role in the way news and public debate unfolded.
Elon Musk bought the company in 2022 and rebranded it as X the following year.
The platform now operates under that name, while many users continue to refer to it as Twitter.
Let's head to Spain now, where crowds cheered the removal of La Bella, the border fence separating the British territory of Gibraltar from Spain.
The border was a sticking point in Brexit negotiations after the UK left the European Union.
But a new deal will mean Spain and the UK officials will both check passports of arrivals at Gibraltar's ports and airports.
And that means the land border between will become frictionless, which is a huge win for half of Gibraltar's workforce.
Many of them come from La Nia de la Concepcion, and its mayor, Juan Franco, told Leanne de Bruyn what it means for the city.
Our local economy is dependent about the Gibraltarian economy.
We have around 11000 people inhabitants of our city working in Gibraltar, and also our companies have 30 of its income about Gibraltarian customers.
So what about the impact on local workers who commute to The Rock?
In this moment, we have two problems with our workers.
The first problem is the border.
Okay.
And with this agreement, the problem is solved.
Okay.
Another problem is with the pensions.
The local worker is paid money to the Gibraltarian government to have a pension.
But the payment in Gibraltar is less than the payment in Spain.
And on the rock, Business Minister Gemma Ríos Vázquez said this.
What the frontier has done over the past 40 years is, on occasion, made lives very, very difficult because you've had to queue for three four, five hours on occasions.
So what the treaty does is ensure that pragmatism prevails and that both sides can actually benefit from a smoother flowing frontier.
So do you think that we will see a positive impact on the Gibraltarian economy as a result of this treaty?
I think that the impact will be huge.
I think that businesses can plan ahead to what their businesses need.
There's now a better ability to plan for the future in terms of workforce planning.
And it means that businesses, for the first time, know exactly what to expect when to move to Gibraltar.
So I think that the Gibraltar economy will go from strength to strength as a result of this treaty.
Jim Arias, Vasquez speaking to the BBC's Gideon Longfair.
And that's it from World Business Express.
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Thanks for listening.
Once again, I am Bissi Adibayo.
See you next time.
