BEVERAGES
Interest in SodaStream?
Israeli media reported that PepsiCo Inc. and Coca-Cola Co. are considering bids for the home soda-machine maker SodaStream International.
PepsiCo denied the report on business website Calcalist that it’s in talks to buy SodaStream for more than $2 billion. Coca-Cola declined to comment on a report from newspaper Globes that it may bid for the Airport City, Israel-based company.
SodaStream is growing rapidly at a time when the $183 billion global market for carbonated beverages is slowing. The company is seeking to more than double sales to $1 billion by 2016. Researcher Euromonitor International estimates that annual growth in carbonated beverages will weaken to 2 percent through 2017 from 4 percent in the past four years.
ECONOMY
Survey predicts growth
A debate among investors and analysts concerns whether the Federal Reserve inflated a stock market bubble by driving interest rates to record lows. The answer, according to economists surveyed by the Associated Press: No.
Three-quarters of the economists say stocks, which are at their lowest point in a month but are up 19 percent since November, aren’t overvalued. Many point to strong corporate profits as justifying the surge in stock prices, which have more than doubled since bottoming in 2009.
The economists expect many consumers to respond to their increased stock wealth by spending more in coming months. The survey expects growth to slow to around a 2 percent annual rate in the April-June quarter from a 2.4 percent rate last quarter. The key reasons: Federal spending cuts, higher taxes and economic weakness in Europe and elsewhere.
But they say U.S. economic growth should increase in the second half of this year and speed up next year. Besides the stock market gains, steady job growth and surging home prices will likely fuel more spending. They forecast that growth will reach 2.8 percent in 2014 as hiring accelerates and consumer confidence — now at a five-year high — improves further. If they’re accurate, that would be the fastest growth since 2005.
AUTO INDUSTRY
Chrysler issues two recalls
Just two days after refusing a government request to recall 2.7 million older-model Jeeps, Chrysler has decided to do two other recalls totaling 630,000 vehicles worldwide.
The automaker will recall more than 409,000 Jeep Patriot and Compass small SUVs across the globe from the 2010 and 2012 model years to fix air bag and seat-belt problems. It’s also recalling 221,000 Jeep Wranglers worldwide from 2012 and 2013 to fix transmission fluid leaks, according to documents posted on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration website.
In the Patriots and Compasses, a software error could cause late deployment of the side air bags and seat-belt tightening mechanisms, and that could cause injuries in rollover crashes. Dealers will repair the software for free starting in July.
For Wranglers with 3.6-liter V-6 engines, Chrysler says a power steering fluid line can wear a hole in the transmission oil cooler line. The SUVs can leak fluid, damaging automatic transmissions. Dealers will inspect the lines for free and replace them or install a protective sleeve. The recall begins in July.
ENTERTAINMENT
Federal gambling bill
Gamblers who prefer their laptops to blackjack tables could be getting a boost from Washington. Rep. Peter King, R-New York, introduced legislation Thursday that would rescue online gambling from a legal gray zone and fully regulate it. The federal government cracked down on online poker in 2011. But the same year, the Justice Department issued a ruling making online gambling legal so long as it’s permitted on the state level. As a result, states have taken steps to usher in a new era of online gambling. It already is legal in Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware.
RETAIL
Walmart website grows
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is ahead of schedule on its plan to double the assortment of goods available on its website as the world’s largest retailer works to blunt competition from online rivals. The assortment may be doubled by the end of the second quarter, earlier than its previous target of reaching the milestone by the end of the year, Joel Anderson, chief executive officer of Walmart.com in the U.S., said. Walmart is trying to boost sales in the U.S. as rivals such as Amazon.com Inc. and the dollar stores lure its customers. Online sales at U.S. retailers grew more than 17 percent between 2011 and 2012, more than four times faster than overall retail sales, according to research firm Kantar Retail.
Compiled from staff and wire reports