The International Monetary Fund has lowered its outlook for the world economy this year, predicting that government spending cuts will slow U.S. growth and keep the euro currency alliance in recession. The global lending organization cut its forecast for global growth to 3.3 percent this year, down from its forecast in January of 3.5 percent. It didn't alter its prediction of 4 percent global growth in 2014. The IMF expects the U.S. economy to expand 1.9 percent this year. That's below its January estimate of 2.1 percent and last year's U.S. growth of 2.2 percent. Still, the IMF says the U.S. economy is improving and should expand 3 percent in 2014.
Housing starts surged 7 percent last month
U.S. homebuilders broke the 1 million mark in March for the first time since June 2008. The gain signals continued strength for the housing recovery at the start of the spring buying season. The overall pace of homes started rose 7 percent from February to March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.04 million, the Commerce Department said. Apartment construction, which tends to fluctuate sharply from month to month, led the surge: It jumped nearly 31 percent to an annual rate of 417,000, the fastest pace since January 2006. By contrast, single-family home building, which makes up nearly two-thirds of the market, fell 4.8 percent to an annual rate of 619,000.
Inflation? Consumer price index dips 0.2%
Consumer inflation pressures eased in March as gasoline prices dropped, which could add to fears of renewed deflationary pressure in the economy. The consumer price index decreased 0.2 percent in March, led by lower energy and apparel costs, the Labor Department said. The decrease was larger than the 0.1 percent decline expected by analysts. Core prices — which exclude volatile food and energy costs — increased 0.1 percent, softer than the 0.2 percent gain expected by economists surveyed by MarketWatch. Energy prices decreased 2.6 percent in March, retracing half of the 5.4 percent rise in February.
Manufacturing sector cooled off last month
Factory production in the U.S. unexpectedly dropped in March, adding to recent signs that manufacturing is cooling. Output at factories fell 0.1 percent, figures from the Federal Reserve showed, compared with 0.1 percent increase forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists. Total industrial production, which includes manufacturing, mining and utilities, climbed 0.4 percent as colder-than-normal temperatures drove the biggest gain in electricity and natural-gas use in six years. The median estimate for total industrial production of the 82 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for a 0.2 percent gain.
Report warns of 'superbugs' hiding in meat
More than half of samples of ground turkey, pork chops and ground beef collected from supermarkets for testing by the federal government contained bacteria resistant to antibiotics, according to a new report highlighting the findings. The data, collected in 2011 by the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System — a joint program of the Food and Drug Administration, the Agriculture Department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — show a sizable increase in the amount of meat contaminated with antibiotic-resistant forms of bacteria, known as superbugs, like salmonella, E. coli and campylobacter. Academic veterinarians who work with the International Food Information Council and with the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance criticized the report as misleading.
FDA declines to approve generic OxyContin
In a major policy move, the Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday that it would not approve generic versions of the powerful narcotic OxyContin, the painkiller that symbolized a decade-long epidemic of prescription drug abuse. The move represents a victory for OxyContin's manufacturer, Purdue Pharma, which in 2010 introduced a formulation of the drug that was less prone to tampering. The original version of OxyContin, which was approved in late 1995, could be easily crushed, a step that released its entire narcotic payload at once rather than over time as intended. The new version turns into a jellylike mass when crushed. The decision by the FDA came on the day when the patent for the original version of OxyContin was set to expire.
Europeans reject greenhouse-gas measure
The European Parliament rejected an attempt to raise companies' costs of emitting greenhouse gases, dealing a potential death blow to Europe's world-leading effort to use emission permits to combat climate change. The proposal was meant to put teeth into efforts to reduce carbon emissions from the smokestacks of utility companies and manufacturers, by curtailing the availability of permits that allow companies to emit greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Scientists have linked such gases to global warming. The proposed measure, which in effect would have made it much more costly to pollute, was narrowly rejected in a 334-315 vote.
Time Warner Cable adds live programs to Net
Time Warner Cable, the second-largest U.S. cable operator, is adding live out-of-home programming for the first time to its TWC TV application, letting customers watch shows on Apple mobile devices. Time Warner Cable will make as many as 11 live national news, sports and entertainment channels available outside the home starting Wednesday, according to Maureen Huff, a company spokeswoman. They include the Big Ten Network, the Pac-12 Network, TV Guide Network and BBC America.
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