Business Today: Obama budget sets up election-year clash with Republicans

	Click to View in Browser 03/4/2014 Obama budget sets up election-year clash with Republicans WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama proposed new tax credits and job-training programs for U.S. workers on Tuesday in a 2015 budget that drew instant condemnation from Republicans, who dismissed the document as an election-year campaign pitch. S&P 500 ends at record; Ukraine-Russia tensions ease NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rallied on Tuesday with the S&P 500 closing at a record high, as fears eased of a confrontation between Russia and Ukraine and Russian President Vladimir Putin said there was no need to use military force in the Crimea region for now. Ecuador $9.5 billion ruling against Chevron was corrupt: U.S. judge NEW YORK (Reuters) - An American lawyer used "corrupt means" to secure a multi-billion-dollar pollution judgment against Chevron Corp in Ecuador, a U.S. judge ruled on Tuesday, a major setback for Ecuadorean villagers hoping to collect on the award. GM CEO said ignition-switch recall will take time to play out DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Co Chief Executive Mary Barra said the No. 1 U.S. automaker was sorry for the recent recall of an ignition-switch linked to 13 deaths, and said the process would take time to play out but the company would work to ensure customer satisfaction. U.S. payrolls improvement eyed, but weather still a drag WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. job growth likely picked up enough in February to encourage the Federal Reserve to continue to scale back its monetary stimulus, although the gain is likely to be tepid given the unrelentingly harsh winter weather. U.S. appeals court says BP bound by Gulf spill accord (Reuters) - A divided U.S. appeals court has rejected BP Plc's bid to block businesses from recovering money over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, even if they could not trace their economic losses to the disaster. U.S. justices extend employee whistleblower protections WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday said whistleblower protections apply not just to publicly traded companies but also to subcontractors that do business with them. Exclusive: Mercedes, Infiniti to pool small cars, plant - sources GENEVA (Reuters) - Daimler's Mercedes and Nissan's Infiniti plan to pool development of compact cars to cut costs, expand the German carmaker's North American production and broaden the Infiniti lineup, people familiar with the matter said. Japan to regulate and tax Bitcoin trades: Nikkei (Reuters) - The Japanese government will set rules for trading bitcoin, including imposing taxes on transactions with the virtual currency, that will become the basis for guidelines applicable to similar currencies in future, the Nikkei reported. Itaú-CorpBanca merger plan draws fire from U.S. investor SAO PAULO/NEW YORK (Reuters) - An activist U.S. investor has asked Chilean bank CorpBanca SA to reconsider its approval of a merger with Brazil's Itaú Unibanco Holding SA and to launch a new auction, alleging CorpBanca had sold its minority investors short while benefiting its key shareholder. Related Video Exosuit promises to take ocean explorers to new depths Obama could lift crude export ban without Congress: Murkowski Economic News Obama budget sets up election-year clash with Republicans U.S. payrolls improvement eyed, but weather still a drag A daily digest of breaking business news, coverage of the US economy, major corporate news and the financial markets. Register Today   The latest Reuters articles on M&A, IPOs, private equity, hedge funds and regulatory updates delivered to your inbox each day. Register Today   » MORE NEWSLETTERS - 3 Times Square New York, NY 10036 USA © Copyright 2010 Thomson Reuters Ensure delivery of Reuters Newsmails, add mail@nl.reuters.com to your address book. Details Subscribe to other Reuters newsletters. Unsubscribe from this newsletter. Follow us on Twitter Friend us on Facebook Forward to a friend