<div>The White House forecast more robust economic growth in 2014 than last year and a further pickup in the economy in 2015. Under a White House projection, the US economy is expected to expand by 3.1 per cent this year, faster than last year’s 1.7 per cent. Growth will pick up to 3.4 per cent in 2015. The Barack Obama-led administration also forecast that unemployment will ease to an average of 6.9 per cent in 2014. The jobless rate, which reached a high of 10 per cent in 2009, fell to a five-year low of 6.6 per cent in January. Many economists say that the unemployment rate has dropped in part because many people have stopped looking for work. Almost five years after the end of the recession, the economy is still growing modestly and the unemployment rate, while declining, has remained persistently high.</div><div> </div><div><strong>All’s In A Name<img src="/image/image_gallery?uuid=d6a8e2eb-032c-4e7e-8b1d-20d7165b5cc5&groupId=222861&t=1395151002665" width="120" height="120" align="right" alt="" /></strong></div><div>Steven A. Cohen, whose hedge fund SAC Capital Advisors pleaded guilty to insider trading, is changing the name of his firm to Point72 Asset Management (effective 7 April) as it shifts focus to managing his own assets from serving as a hedge fund for wealthy investors following an agreement with the US government. “We have been through a great deal during the past few years. Our new name, combined with the other changes we have announced, are intended to help us move forward,” Tom Conheeney, SAC’s president, wrote to employees.</div><div> </div><div><strong>Level Up</strong></div><div>King Digital Entertainment, maker of hit mobile phone game Candy Crush Saga, expects to be worth up to $7.6 billion when it goes public in March in the US, amid concerns about its over-reliance on the game. King will hope to benefit from its focus on the estimated $17-billion market for mobile game apps and avoid the fate of rivals such as Zynga, which has struggled to make its games as popular on phones as they are online. King expects to price its IPO at $21-24 a share, valuing the company at up to $7.6 billion — slightly higher than Hasbro, the 90-year old maker of Monopoly and Scrabble.</div><div> </div><div><strong>Key issues<img src="/image/image_gallery?uuid=1efb042c-944f-49c4-9d9f-cd88ee015aa0&groupId=222861&t=1395151047144" width="120" height="120" align="right" alt="" /></strong></div><div>Federal prosecutors are examining whether General Motors (GM) is criminally liable for failing to properly disclose problems with some of its vehicles that were linked to 13 deaths and led to a recall in February, said a source. Federal investigators are reviewing information about how GM handled reports of problems with ignition switches that first came to light 10 years ago. The failure is believed to be caused when weight on the ignition key, road conditions or some other jarring event causes the ignition switch to move out of the ‘run’ position, turning off the engine and most of the car’s electrical components mid-drive. GM has recommended that owners use only the ignition key with nothing else on the key ring.</div><div> </div><div><strong>Bonus Round<img src="/image/image_gallery?uuid=f4597a70-b25a-409e-ab58-b258e4269d90&groupId=222861&t=1395151068796" width="120" height="120" align="right" alt="" /></strong></div><div>Barclays faces a backlash from shareholders over its decision to raise bonuses despite profits falling by a third, with investors increasingly demanding CEO Antony Jenkins give more money to them and less to his staff. British banks have failed to rein in pay despite a new European Union cap, leading to a threat that politicians and regulators in both Brussels and London may impose more curbs. Jenkins said an exodus from Barclays’s investment bank in the US forced him to take this step that has resulted in paying staff three times more in bonuses than in dividends to owners, pushing shareholders to be more “aggressive”.</div><div> </div><div><strong>On The Mend </strong></div><div>Italian PM Matteo Renzi recently presented a sweeping package of tax cuts, saying they could help economic recovery in the euro zone’s third largest economy without breaking EU budget deficit limits. Renzi said income tax would be reduced by a total of €10 billion annually for 10 million low- and middle-income workers from 1 May. The cuts will be financed by reductions in central government spending, extra borrowing and by resources freed up thanks to the recent fall in Italy’s borrowing costs, he said. Italy’s economy minister said the government will need to evaluate the effect of its measures on public finances and would need to seek EU approval if deficit and debt targets appeared in doubt.</div><div><strong><br /></strong></div><div><strong>In The Cups?<img src="/image/image_gallery?uuid=251c6102-c64d-4b05-a755-3d229d771adf&groupId=222861&t=1395151094890" width="120" height="120" align="right" alt="" /></strong></div><div>With the World Cup in June and July and a presidential election in October, many Brazilians aren’t thinking beyond 2014. But this year and the next may be memorable for all the wrong reasons in Latin America’s biggest economy. The next president will have to make deep budget cuts, raise taxes and take other painful steps to address Brazil’s growing financial imbalances. The fallout will likely be more damaging than many investors anticipate, resulting in a fourth straight year of disappointing growth — a fallback for a country that last decade was one of the world’s most dynamic emerging markets.</div><div> </div><div><strong>Green Drive</strong></div><div>Hyundai Motor plans to start selling its first battery-powered electric vehicle (EV) in 2016 as South Korea’s champion of fuel-cell cars hedges its bets in next-generation green technology. Hyundai has leant toward engines that turn hydrogen into electricity in response to stricter emission regulations in markets such as the US. Research and development partner Kia Motors Corp has focused on rechargeable batteries. Alongside, BMW’s i3 and Nissan Motor’s Leaf are widely expected to reach Korea this year, as will Kia’s Soul EV.</div><div><strong><br /></strong></div><div><strong>Fightback<img src="/image/image_gallery?uuid=7561fdfc-07a8-43a8-a329-98126edfdf37&groupId=222861&t=1395151135563" width="120" height="120" align="right" alt="" /></strong></div><div>China allocated about $35 billion for environmental protection this year to combat toxic smog that frequently engulfs its cities, including capital Beijing. The government will take strong measures to prevent and control pollution with the focus on mega cities and regions with frequent occurrence of smog, Premier Li Keqiang said in a recent report. Hazardous smog, several times more dangerous than WHO limits, engulfs cities, raising serious health concerns, including lung cancer risk, among the public.</div><div> </div><div><strong>Going Private</strong></div><div>China will launch pilot programmes to test the development of privately owned banks in Tianjin, Shanghai, Zhejiang and Guangdong, the country’s bank regulator Shang Fulin said recently. The pilot, which was approved by China’s government in January, is the first tentative step by the country to open its hitherto closely guarded banking sector to private investors. A total of 10 firms will participate in the pilot. According to reports, e-commerce giants Alibaba and Tencent — which have been competing to market high-yielding wealth management products online — may have made the cut.</div><div> </div><div>(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 07-04-2014)</div><div> </div><div> </div>
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