The U.S. economy is forecast to grow 1.9 percent, down from 2.4 percent in 2015. The euro zone is expected to grow 1.6 percent, the same as last year.
The World Bank slashed its forecast for Japan’s growth to 0.5 percent from the 1.3 percent it expected in January. Its forecast for China remained 6.7 percent.
— Associated Press
AUTO INDUSTRY
Ford, Fiat Chrysler to make fewer small cars
Ford and Fiat Chrysler are cutting production of smaller cars and idling workers at some North American factories while boosting output of SUVs in reaction to a long-term shift toward larger vehicles, the companies said separately on Tuesday.
The Detroit-area plant that makes the slow-selling Ford Focus and C-Max compact cars will shut an additional five weeks through the end of this year beyond the normal downtime of two weeks in the summer and one week at the year-end holidays, Ford confirmed Tuesday.
— Reuters
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● ● China will allow foreign payment-card companies to operate in the country under rules issued on Tuesday. Visa and MasterCard, the world's two largest credit- and debit-card companies, have been lobbying for more than a decade for direct access to China's cards market. Bank-card consumer transactions reached 55 trillion yuan in 2015 — 48 percent of total social consumption, the People's Bank of China said in a statement. The market is dominated by state-run China UnionPay .
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