WORLD
These are the world’s most expensive cities for expats in 2024
High rental costs saw the rival cities beat Zurich, Geneva, Basel and Bern to the top of the table, according to Mercer’s 2024 Cost of Living report.
BUSINESS
Danone bets aging populace will drive medical nutrition demand
The medical nutrition unit will be a big part of the next stage of Danone’s recovery effort, after Chief Executive Officer Antoine de Saint-Affrique began to revive growth in sales volumes of products like Volvic bottled water and Activia yogurt.
BUSINESS
China factory output cools, retail spending beats forecasts
The spending numbers offer some encouragement, after years in which Chinese households have been reluctant to shell out despite government efforts to boost consumption.
WORLD
How the US mopped up a third of global capital flows since Covid
For all the angst over the dollar’s dominance, a run-up in US interest rates to the highest levels in decades proved a major draw for overseas investors.
INDIA
India in talks with Norway’s Equinor for oil reserves: Report
The LNG deal with Equinor will help India to fortify future gas imports. IOL had inked a long-term LNG contract with France’s Total Energies to supply 1 million metric tonnes per annum for about 10 years
WORLD
PM Narendra Modi seizes centre stage at G7 to ambush Joe Biden, Justin Trudeau
Italian PM Giorgia Meloni gave Modi prominent placement at G7 events and the Indian leader took full advantage, striding over for encounters with two leaders whose governments have accused his own of murder plots.
BUSINESS
Hinduja family staff settle civil lawsuit over domestic workers’ exploitation allegations
A deal to end the civil suit was reached this week, Olivier Peter, a lawyer for one of the three claimants said, without confirming the details of the accord.
WORLD
Apple tops Microsoft in value after best 3-day run since 2020
The milestone followed a blistering rally, including Apple’s biggest three-day advance since August 2020. It closed with a market capitalization of $3.285 trillion, compared with Microsoft at $3.282 trillion.
WORLD
‘Roaring Kitty’ appears to have exited GameStop call options
A screenshot on Gill’s Reddit account on Thursday showed his portfolio no longer included the 120,000 GameStop call options that were set to expire next week and had a strike price of $20.
WORLD
Microsoft pulls back wide release of criticized windows AI tool
Microsoft planned to release Recall broadly on June 18, but said it will now be available in the coming weeks only in the Windows Insider Program.
WORLD
Tesla investors back Elon Musk’s $56 billion pay deal, Texas move
The electric-car maker announced the results at its annual meeting Thursday in Austin without disclosing the breakdown of votes. Musk had foreshadowed the outcome the night before in a post on X, saying both resolutions were “passing by wide margins.”
WORLD
Asian consumer demand for gold seen staying strong this year
Attendees at a precious metals conference in Singapore this week were enthusiastic about bullion’s prospects, seeing demand across the region staying strong. That’s even after a record-setting rally that’s spurred a 16% jump since mid-February, taking prices to above $2,300 an ounce.
WORLD
Donald Trump tells CEOs he would cut corporate tax rate to 20%
The current corporate tax rate is 21%, but even a small reduction represents a tax cut worth billions of dollars each year for profitable US companies. Trump called the 20% figure a nice, round figure, according to two sources briefed on his comments.
BUSINESS
Chinese, Indian stocks favored by abrdn on policy boost hopes
Should “high frequency data points continue to surprise on the upside, and at the same time we’ve seen policies being pushed through, that’s sufficient to drive a re-rating in the equities market in China,” said David Zhou, investment director of multi-asset and investment.
BUSINESS
UBS fund manager likes China junk debt but is skeptical on India
The head of fixed income for emerging markets is breaking with the likes of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and is steering clear of investor favorite Indian government debt, while embracing volatile Chinese high-yield bonds, which have suffered from a prolonged property crisis.
WORLD
Apple to ‘pay’ OpenAI for chatGPT through distribution, not cash
Left unanswered on Monday: which company is paying the other as part of a tight collaboration that has potentially lasting monetary benefits for both.
WORLD
OpenAI doubles annualized revenue to $3.4 billion
In an all-hands meeting Wednesday, Altman said the vast majority of that revenue — about $3.2 billion — comes from OpenAI’s products and services, according to the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal communications.
BUSINESS
Citi sees India allure enticing global bond funds to stay
India’s debt yields are higher than China’s or the US, and its economy is the fastest-growing among the Group of 20.
BUSINESS
India will need to build 100 million homes this decade amid rising household incomes
Narendra Modi, who was sworn in as India’s prime minister for a third straight term on Sunday, has vowed to continue pushing growth especially in the housing and infrastructure sectors.
BUSINESS
Haldiram's explores IPO as stake sale plans stall: Report
The Agarwal family is considering a listing as bids in the region of $8 billion to $8.5 billion didn’t meet its valuation expectations of about $12 billion, according to the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private information.
WORLD
EV slowdown steers the world further off course from net zero
In its annual Electric Vehicle Outlook, BNEF reduced its battery-electric sales projections by 6.7 million vehicles through 2026.
BUSINESS
India’s stock rebound from election upset is fastest in a decade
The benchmark NSE Nifty 50 Index sank almost 6% on June 4 after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s alliance won a surprisingly slim majority, only to recoup the loss in the next three sessions. That’s the fastest recovery from a drop of more than 5% in the last decade.
INDIA
Insurance helped 46,000 Indian women avoid deadly work during heat waves
For 40-year-old Lataben Arvindbhai Makwana, it was too unbearable to run her sewing machine inside her tin-roofed house, which has little ventilation and only a small ceiling fan. As a daily wage laborer, that meant she was not earning the money she needed to feed her kids and buy blood pressure medication for herself.
BUSINESS
Byju’s hedge fund ally can avoid arrest if he answers questions
US Bankruptcy Judge John Dorsey, during a court hearing Tuesday in Wilmington, Delaware, agreed to drop an arrest order for William C. Morton, the founder of Camshaft Fund. Byju’s invested $533 million of loan proceeds with the fund last year, according to court records.
