:00:02. > :00:12.BBC World News. Let's bring you right up today with all the news
:00:12. > :00:18.
:00:18. > :00:28.Welcome to World Business Report. Shaking off the gloom from Europe.
:00:28. > :00:30.
:00:30. > :00:34.US growth may have hit its fastest I am in Davos. Where the head of
:00:34. > :00:39.the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, and also the US Treasury
:00:39. > :00:44.Secretary Tim Geithner, are due to speak and they will try to persuade
:00:44. > :00:54.delegates that recovery is just around the corner. And in Asia,
:00:54. > :00:56.
:00:56. > :01:00.Samsung Electronics have reported Welcome to the programme. Despite
:01:00. > :01:04.the gloom hanging over Europe where much of the region is in recession,
:01:04. > :01:08.the world's biggest economy is powering ahead. Figures out later
:01:09. > :01:14.are expected to confirm US GDP growing at its fastest pace in a
:01:14. > :01:19.year and a half. Growth in the final quarter of 2011 is likely to
:01:19. > :01:22.come in at 3%, up sharply on the previous quarter, that has been
:01:22. > :01:30.driven by a fall in unemployment and stronger consumer spending over
:01:31. > :01:35.the holidays. But will it last? Sparks are flying at this
:01:35. > :01:43.manufacturing firm in New Jersey. Here, they make hardware for US
:01:44. > :01:49.naval ships. They are part of a wave of manufacturers who are
:01:49. > :01:53.supporting otherwise lacklustre economic activity. In the 4th
:01:53. > :01:58.quarter of 2011 we were very busy. We worked extensive overtime in
:01:58. > :02:02.order to make deliveries for our year end. We think the
:02:02. > :02:06.manufacturing climate in New Jersey and the West is pretty strong.
:02:07. > :02:11.Manufacturing makes up only a fifth of the US economy but it has been
:02:11. > :02:15.resilient -- the US. American manufacturing companies have been
:02:15. > :02:19.at the heart of the economic recovery here since the end of the
:02:19. > :02:23.great recession. But many wonder whether a strong manufacturing
:02:23. > :02:28.sector is enough especially given the troubles in Europe, the lack of
:02:28. > :02:33.confidence of US businesses, and even the continuing problems in the
:02:33. > :02:38.US housing market. Not to mention struggling US consumers, whose
:02:38. > :02:45.purchases made up to 70% of US growth. And the burst of activity
:02:45. > :02:50.at the end of 2011 may well be short lived. We do expect growth to
:02:50. > :02:58.continue to slow over the cost of the year. We are expecting by the
:02:58. > :03:03.4th quarter of this year, it will be near 1% -- the course of.
:03:03. > :03:11.for welder Jason, a manufacturing job is skilled worker with
:03:11. > :03:18.prospects in an economy with high unemployment and insecurity. It is
:03:18. > :03:21.not easy work but it is a steady job and steady work. While
:03:21. > :03:31.manufacturers may be doing well the rest of the economy is still
:03:31. > :03:32.
:03:32. > :03:36.The US Treasury Secretary is one of the big names speaking at the World
:03:36. > :03:41.Economic Forum in Davos later today. He will be debating the impact of
:03:41. > :03:46.the eurozone crisis on the US economy. We will also hear from key
:03:46. > :03:53.European policy makers including Mario Draghi, the head of the ECB.
:03:53. > :03:57.Hello, it is all yours... Hello. Thanks very much. It is going to be
:03:57. > :04:01.a day focussing certainly on the eurozone crisis and the impact it
:04:01. > :04:10.is having around the world. There are going to be discussions about
:04:10. > :04:13.the Chinese economy with a very strong message saying that the
:04:13. > :04:16.eurozone crisis is really having a very detrimental effect on their
:04:16. > :04:20.businesses and on economies right around the world. They feel now
:04:20. > :04:25.that Europe is daring to muddle through this rather than make any
:04:25. > :04:33.dramatic steps to change it -- Europe is going to. We are hearing
:04:33. > :04:41.from Tim Geithner today and joining me now is and economists, very
:04:41. > :04:48.eminent economists, and I ask you, how does the US deal about the
:04:48. > :04:53.eurozone crisis? The US businesses, the politicians, are very
:04:53. > :04:58.frustrated that this crisis has not been dealt with in a big way in a
:04:58. > :05:01.final sort of way that it continues to drag on. But as you were saying
:05:02. > :05:06.things have calmed down quite a bit so in that sense there may be
:05:06. > :05:10.breathing space here which is good news. From a US perspective on its
:05:10. > :05:15.economy, at the moment not many people are talking about debt but
:05:15. > :05:20.that will have to be dealt with after the election. 20 twirl is
:05:20. > :05:24.going to be a pretty good year for the US -- 2012. But in 2013 they
:05:24. > :05:28.will have a huge fiscal problem they will have to deal with.
:05:28. > :05:32.Everybody knows nothing will happen before the elections in November
:05:32. > :05:36.but after that big decisions will have to be made. The political
:05:36. > :05:46.climate in the US is still a pretty bad one so I am worried for after
:05:46. > :05:48.
:05:48. > :05:52.2013. The economy is strong enough, though? We think the Fed might be a
:05:52. > :05:56.bit too conservative, we are looking towards 2.5% growth, not
:05:56. > :06:01.great but better than Europe. you think the economy will stall
:06:02. > :06:06.again next year? I don't think so. A lot will depend on the fiscal
:06:06. > :06:13.decisions. Will they let the social security tax code back up again?
:06:13. > :06:18.What about the Busch tax cuts? There is a lot of talk about China
:06:18. > :06:22.and where they stand economically, what do you think about that?
:06:22. > :06:32.has had a cook track record of engineering soft landings. Their
:06:32. > :06:33.
:06:33. > :06:38.housing bubble in -- their housing bubble is beginning to deflate --
:06:38. > :06:42.good track record. Thank you very much indeed. I had a rather amusing
:06:42. > :06:46.moment last night when I was talking to some Chinese businessman
:06:46. > :06:50.and I talk to them about the Euros in crisis, they said they did not
:06:50. > :06:55.feel it was going to get worse but then it would not get better either
:06:55. > :07:00.-- eurozone crisis. That pretty much sums things up over here.
:07:00. > :07:07.Thank you for joining us. Samsung has reported a 17% jump in 4th
:07:07. > :07:11.quarter profits to $3.5 billion. Let's go to Singapore. If we look
:07:11. > :07:17.at these figures, pretty good figures on the face of it with
:07:17. > :07:23.record profits, but they are given to invest $22 billion in new chips,
:07:23. > :07:29.flat-screen TV is, on a time -- in a time when others are cutting
:07:29. > :07:36.costs? Indeed, they are investing, they are defined the general trend.
:07:36. > :07:41.In Davos, it has been said most companies are cutting back over
:07:41. > :07:44.concerns over the eurozone crisis and the global slowdown. Record
:07:44. > :07:50.earnings for October to December, the South Korean manufacturer
:07:50. > :07:55.making a net profit of more than $3.5 billion, almost half of that
:07:55. > :08:00.coming from its telecommunications business. A 17% jump for the same
:08:00. > :08:05.period a year earlier. Net profit however was lower for the entire
:08:05. > :08:09.2011, it was down by around 15%. I must say the outlook is not quite
:08:09. > :08:16.as good this year due to the lingering uncertainties over the
:08:16. > :08:20.global economy, which is why they are making to invest so heavily.
:08:20. > :08:24.They will remain fairly robust mainly on sales of smart phones.
:08:24. > :08:34.Although this is where it will continue to come up against Apple,
:08:34. > :08:35.
:08:35. > :08:41.who they have being accused of stealing their patents. Earlier I
:08:41. > :08:47.was told despite Samson's results they are still behind Apple. If you
:08:47. > :08:51.count the profits Apple are way ahead and they are doing it on one
:08:51. > :08:56.business, their computing and mobiles business. They are doing it
:08:56. > :09:03.without having to invest huge stakes in fixed assets. The winning
:09:03. > :09:08.business model looks like Apple's at the moment but Samsung is a very
:09:08. > :09:12.strong and diversified player, and what is interesting is how they
:09:12. > :09:15.continue co-operating even when they are having to compete and
:09:15. > :09:21.sometimes going to court together to draw the lines more clearly