Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Japan growth revised up; Cheap oil will weigh on global economy, says World Bank; The message in Zuckerberg hacking

1 Japan growth revised up (BBC) Japan's economy expanded an annual rate of 1.9% rate in the first quarter of this year, revised from a preliminary figure of 1.7%, according to official figures on Wednesday. The revised figure was in line with analysts' estimates.
Markets in Tokyo fell at first as the higher figure was seen as reducing the chance of further economic stimulus measures by the Japanese government. But shares then rebounded. Shuji Tonouchi, senior fixed income strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities, said: "We expect growth to slow in the current quarter. The government should focus on steps to help low-income earners, but consumption may not rise much if consumer sentiment worsens."
Other stock markets in Asia were mixed after Chinese trade data showed continued weakness in the world's second-biggest economy. Chinese exports fell 4.1% in May from a year earlier while imports dropped 0.4%.
2 Cheap oil will weigh on global economy, says World Bank (Phillip Inman in The Guardian) Global growth will slow this year as oil exporters in the developing world struggle to cope with lower energy prices, the World Bank has said in its half-yearly economic health check.

The benefit of cheaper oil prices for Europe, Japan and other oil importing nations, which has sustained their growth through 2015 and 2016, has failed to offset a slowdown in parts of Africa, Asia and South America that depend on selling energy to sustain their incomes.

In one of the gloomiest predictions by an international forecaster, the bank said the effect of the collapse in oil income on developing countries would restrict global growth to 2.4% this year, well down on its January forecast of 2.9%.

In the UK the growth rate will be restricted to 2% this year and 2.1% in 2017 and in 2018. The US will also stabilise at about 2% annually for the next couple of years, while the eurozone will expand at a more modest 1.6% in 2016 and in 2017 before slipping to 1.5% in 2018. The tumbling price of metals and food on world markets last year hit emerging and developing economies without triggering a significant rise in spending by richer countries.


3 The message in Zuckerberg hacking (San Francisco Chronicle) Mark Zuckerberg can be hacked and so can you. The Facebook founder's rarely used Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest accounts were briefly compromised on Sunday, serving as a reminder that everyone is susceptible to hacking.

Safeguards you could take include creating strong passwords and changing them frequently. Yes, all this is a pain, and it's not your fault that the tech industry couldn't grapple with the rise in security breaches. But if you do nothing, someone could break into your financial account or use your social media account to spew obnoxious or hateful messages. Think of how many friends you'll lose.

Here are some things you can do to stay safe. Pick a good password, don’t reuse passwords, 
deactivate accounts you no longer use, and on social media, make sure you restrict posts to just your actual friends. You can adjust that in the settings. Personal tidbits can not only help hackers crack easy passwords, they also can be used to answer supposedly personal questions to reset passwords.


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