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Strategic moves by ABC News president, Ben Sherwood, as he takes on NBC News and its top rated news programs.

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Japan's showed GDP growth of 4.1% in the first quarter of 2012, as it rebounded strongly from the 2011 earthquake and tsunami with higher public investment.

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Residential property investments are showing a consistent return in Japan. In 2013 residential property investments had a total return of income plus capital gains of 8.0% vs. 9.7% in the U.S., according to Investment Property Databank Ltd. In 2009 the worst year, returns were -3.8% in Japan vs. -16.3% in the U.S. Income gains support returns for residential investments. Investment is increasing with real estate investment up to 3.5 trillion yen in year to date Sept 2014, up 13% over the same period prior year. Blackstone is buying General Electric's residential real estate properties (about 10,000 non-luxury rental units in major cities), as trends show more people moving to cities.

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Janet Yellen empasizes that she will provide "a great deal of continuity in the Fed's approach to monetary policy," in testimony before the U.S. Congress in Jan. 2014. She served as vice chairwoman with Fed chairman Bernanke, and she says helped formulate the current strategy. She pointed out the job reports with low job creation for Dec. 2013 and Jan. 2014 could be a result of recent bad weather and one should be careful not to jump to conclusions. Yellen says it is important to look beyond the unemployment rate to understand conditions in the labor market, especially people out of a job for more than 6 months, and people working parttime but prefer working full time, both numbers unusually high.

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A.G. Lafley returns to P&G to take over from Robert McDonald as CEO. Lafley retired from the CEO position 4 years ago. He worked his way up in the detergent division starting as brand assistant for Joy dishwashing liquid in 1977. McDonald's role as CEO was marked by weak growth in the U.S. for P&G's premium priced brands during the period following the financial crisis of 2008-2009, when consumers were becoming frugal. McDonald increased emphasis on emerging markets but this could not make up for weak growth in P&G's largest market in N. America. Lafley had built up the premium brands during his period as CEO, and not focussed enough on reducing costs of manufacturing and overhead as much as competitors. This turned into a problem for P&G when consumers became more frugal and price conscious. In 2000 Lafley was brought back the first time after the abrupt departure of CEO Durk Jager following a large earnings shortfall and decline in share price. This time private investor Ackman had pushed for McDonald's replacement....

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China's investments in Africa have grown rapidly from $100 million in 2003 to $12 billion in 2011, as it looks for resources in mining and other industries. Pew Research Center surveys show African countries view China's foreign investment favorably.