03/05/2013 World Business Report

an all-time low. 82 years old, but is he still going

strong? Warren Barford hosts investors for their annual meeting

and that questions about his company's performance and who will

replace him. Plus, our Washington spending cuts

are undermining America's economic coverage. Markets await key

Also coming up: India's central banks poised to cut the cost of

borrowing again. We will have the latest from Asia.

We start with this man, the Oracle of Burma. In the once -- words of

one rival, the single greatest stock investor of all time. Today,

some 35,000 shareholders in his company are making their way to his

hometown for their annual investor weekend, which he calls the

Woodstock for capitalists. His company is bust, with 80

subsidiaries from insurance to railways. It has a market value of

some $262 billion. Its share prices of some 30% since last year's

meeting and is expected to report higher earnings today. However,

over the last four years, that share price has underperformed the

broader S&P 500. Some investors are concerned that the company is not

what it once was. The Oracle of Omagh. Worth more

than $50 billion, he is one of the richest people in the world. Just

one share of his company is worth about $160,000. To many he is also

pretty inspiring. I think it will be awesome to meet him. This woman

will get to do just that later this month. If she jumps in the Paul and

something happens to her, maybe she hit her head or she cannot swim any

more, an alarm will sound like this, and we will be a would take her out.

Sponsoring a contest to encourage students' interesting business, her

project has won her an audience with the savvy investor. I would

definitely ask him how he is so successful and how he thinks that

our generation can improve the state of the economy. Warren but it

can also take inspiration from young people. On Thursday he joined

Twitter and in just two hours he had more than $100,000. Some of his

most recent investments are instantly recognisable to teenagers.

Ketchup and baked beans, his takeover of Heinz earlier this year

was the biggest deal ever in the food industry. The last decade has

not been easy for his company. Comparing its performance to US

market, this occasion untempered growth. I think that he still has

this iconic reputation, but the reality is hears mortal like the

rest of us. His performance has certainly been the performance of a

mortal in recent years and people are starting to think of the bigger

picture of what happens from here. At 82 and being treated for

prostate cancer, people are now asking who will replace him. He

says he has a plan, but some wonder if the company will be the same

without the sage guiding the ship. Let's stay with the US and the big

focus of financial markets will be what comes out of the US Labour

debate -- Labor Department in just a few hours' time. Official job

numbers are expected to show US employers are stepped up their

hiring in April. Estimates are for 145,000 new jobs in the US in April.

That would be a big improvement over the week 88,000 added in March.

But it is way off the figures for February, whether hiring hit

268,000. Do you think these figures show that quantitive easing doesn't

really help boost of the real economy? I don't think they do

because we don't know the counter affects all what would have

happened if we didn't have it. Suddenly, the Fed itself as some

analysis that shows that bond yields have come down, which makes

it cheaper for banks to make loans to individuals. It is not

necessarily the case that loans are being made in all the areas where

they need to be made but it certainly has been part of the

process that has led to the US economy continuing to grow. Back to

base -- to slow lipase though. Are we beginning to see the negative

impact of fiscal tightening? It has been in place since the end of the

big downturn in two dozen date, 2009. The banks have been winding

down their largesse. The latest round of fiscal tightening is

certainly coming at a very bad time because it is going to crimp any

recovery in the economy. It is one of many had and still can front in

the US which makes it look like they are going to keep its easing

policy in place. The US economy grew at a rate of 2.5% in the first

quarter, but do you expect that rate of growth to remain?

cannot really just the number because prior to that we had a 0.3%

it. It was effectively stalled. That is not enough to even Paul

unemployment down substantially. were talking earlier about the fact

that the company is releasing its results later today. It is such a

large, diversified investment house that in many ways you could argue

that it is representative of the US economy and it is expecting to

report a profit increase. Would you say that it is perhaps

representative of what we have seen elsewhere? US firms are reporting

profit increases or at least beating expectations. One of the

reasons is that the stock markets have been doing really well.

Another is the liquidity being pumped into the system around the

world. Just because the companies are doing well, it doesn't mean

that the countries are doing well. Companies can source activity from

anywhere in the world. American- based companies might be struggling

in some sectors. Are you going to follow Warren Barton on Twitter?

actually joined on Wednesday, the Let's see what is moving the

markets over in Asia this Friday. India widely expected to cut the

cost of borrowing in the next hour or so. What more do you have for

Investors will be following what India does with its monetary policy.

Economists in the central bank seemed to first have diverse views

on the cost of borrowing. The central bank is expected to reduce

rates. It is expected to help the economy from its slowest growth in

a decade. The bank is hinting that it may keep them on hold, saying it

sees a very limited room to ease monetary policy even further amid

an environment of higher consumer price inflation and a current

account deficit well above sustainable levels, which limits

the space for monetary policy to support growth. It is a decision

that will be made in a few hours' time. Moving to China and there are

signs that a recovery in the economy remains modest and still

faces many risks. The expansion in month of April with the purchasing

managing index for the non- manufacturing sector falling to

54.5 from 55.6 in March. Slowing growth and services showed that

subdued expansion in manufacturing has began to feed through the rest

of the economy. The services industry has so far weathered the

global slowdown much better than the factories.

The royal bed of Scotland reports burning shortly. It is expected to

have made a quarterly profit for the first time in 18 months. It has

been trying to move away from the high risk investments that led to

the bail-out by the UK taxpayer in 2008. It could report profits of

around $1 billion, but at the current share price, the British