Thursday newspaper round-up: Federal Reserve, Greece, Apple Watch

LONDON (ShareCast) - "The economy's sharp first-quarter slowdown is giving Federal Reserve officials pause," writes the Wall Street Journal. At the Fed's policy meeting on Wednesday, the central bank's officials showed uncertainty about when the economy will rebound and clouded the outlook for the first rate hike. Greece 's deputy prime minister Yannis Dragasakis has said the country could seal deal with creditors in early May, but said it was only likely to be a "minimum agreement" to unlock funds, the Guardian said.

According to the Wall Street Journal, a key component of the Apple Watch has been found to be defective, meaning that the tech giant will limit the availability of the new product. The so-called taptic engine component is made by China-based AAC Technologies (Other OTC: AACAF - news) .

Brazil has raised interest rates to a six-year high, lifting the Selic rate by 50 basis points to 13.25%, the Financial Times reports.

The Times has said that UK Oil & Gas (Berlin: 0UK.BE - news) and Evocutis , two companies led by David Lenigas, bought stakes in the Horse Hill development at elevated prices from a business with links to the well-known oil mogul.

Apple (NasdaqGS: AAPL - news) has warned the "material" impact from the European Commission's probe into Ireland (Other OTC: IRLD - news) 's tax treatment of multinationals if it was found that Dublin's policies represented unfair state aid, the Telegraph reports.

Gatwick chairman Sir Roy McNulty told the Times that a close election or hung parliament will scupper Heathrow expansion plans.

Alliance Trust has spend £3m defending itself against a boardroom attack by Elliott Advisors, according to the Times.