BUSINESS
JM Financial to expand investment banking business as amid dealmaking boom
The Mumbai-listed company is seeking to hire at least seven senior investment bankers in the coming year for sectors such as industrials and digital technology, where companies are actively looking to raise funds
BUSINESS
Option traders take risky bets on unusually calm rupee
The cohort are essentially making a bet that the Reserve Bank of India will continue to keep a tight grip on the currency as it seeks to contain volatility and slow its decline past a record low
WORLD
ECB and BOE are reluctant to join Fed in pivoting toward rate cuts
In the wake of Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell’s signal on Wednesday that officials are turning to focus on reducing borrowing costs, peers from Frankfurt to London declared that further slowing in inflation can’t be taken for granted. Whatever financial markets may be betting, they signaled that easing isn’t on the agenda for now.
WORLD
PBOC offers record $112 billion of cash as economy struggles
The People’s Bank of China offered commercial lenders 1.45 trillion yuan ($204 billion) via its medium-term lending facility — 800 billion yuan more than the expected maturity this month.
WORLD
Janet Yellen to visit China again in 2024, focusing on ‘difficult’ topics
“A significant portion of the agenda will focus on discussing difficult areas of concern with my counterpart,” Yellen said of her plans for a second trip to China as Treasury secretary. The remarks came in a speech Thursday evening in Washington to the US-China Business Council.
BUSINESS
ECB holds rates with inflation in retreat, but hastens bond exit
Officials said they’d accelerate the end of reinvestments under the PEPP bond-buying program, which will put all policy tools into tightening mode, even as fresh projections showed a weaker economy softening the inflation outlook
BUSINESS
Bank of England keeps interest rates unchanged at 5.25%
The Monetary Policy Committee voted 6-3 to keep its key policy rate at 5.25% for the third consecutive meeting, according to minutes of the decision released Thursday.
BUSINESS
Oil demand growth in India to taper in 2024 after bumper run
Oil demand growth in the key Asian market of India is set to slow next year as the spurt in consumption that followed the pandemic fades, echoing a slowdown in China and presenting a fresh headwind for prices.
BUSINESS
Adani’s new copper foray to further tighten world’s ore supply
The Kutch Copper Ltd. facility, with initial capacity of 500,000 tons a year, is slated to come online in March, boosting the country’s potential production of the metal by 80%.
WORLD
House Republicans authorize Joe Biden impeachment inquiry
The 221 to 212 party-line vote sets up a high-profile clash between Congress and the White House as the 2024 election approaches. Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump has urged GOP lawmakers to step up the impeachment inquiry against Biden.
WORLD
Fed prepares to shift to rate cuts in 2024 as inflation eases
While Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday policymakers are prepared to resume rate increases should price pressures return, he and his colleagues issued forecasts showing that a series of cuts would be likely next year.
BUSINESS
Sell S&P 500 in ‘Every Scenario’ looms as rally Is overheating
Even a slight push back from the Federal Reserve on interest-rate cuts could unravel the relentless stock rally since late October.
BUSINESS
Fed Rate cut expectations by March are ‘Optimistic’, Rajan says
The US Federal Reserve will probably want to see inflation come down further before easing policy and any expectations of interest rate cuts by March are “overly optimistic,” India’s former central bank Governor Raghuram Rajan said.
BUSINESS
Foxconn adds $1 billion to investment in giant Apple India plant
The world’s biggest assembler of iPhones plans to spend that amount on top of the $1.6 billion it earlier set aside for the 300-acre site close to Bengaluru’s airport, people familiar with the matter said.
WORLD
UK’s economy shrinks in October, signaling weak end to year
Gross domestic product fell 0.3% following a gain of 0.2% in September, the Office for National Statistics said Wednesday. The drop was the first since July and exceeded the 0.1% fall economists had forecast.
WORLD
COP28 ends with deal on transition away from fossil fuels
The president of this year’s UN-sponsored summit, the UAE’s Sultan Al Jaber, brokered an agreement that was strong enough for the US and European Union on the need to dramatically curb fossil fuel use while keeping Saudi Arabia and other oil producers on board.
BUSINESS
Adani to invest $100 billion over 10 years in green transition
Five companies of the billionaire Gautam Adani-led group are actively sourcing renewable energy sources, electrifying operations and adopting biofuels to slash emissions, it said in a statement on Tuesday.
BUSINESS
India’s food-driven inflation spurt to keep RBI on guard
The consumer price index rose 5.55% in November from a year earlier, slightly lower than economists expected, moving further away from the Reserve Bank of India’s 4% target.
BUSINESS
Elon Musk's SpaceX value jumps closer to $180 billion in tender offer
The world’s second-most valuable closely held startup has been discussing a tender offer that could range from $500 million to $750 million, Bloomberg News reported on Dec. 6.
WORLD
Big money managers name top investment ideas for Asia in 2024
While making the case for those bets, money managers in the region also say determining asset allocations for the year ahead has rarely been so challenging.
WORLD
Netflix posts viewer data on every show, film for first time
The political thriller The Night Agent was the most-watched title globally in the first half of 2023, generating 812.1 million hours of viewing, Netflix said.
WORLD
These are the best and worst cities for expats to live and work in 2023
Well, you could do worse than Vienna, Zurich or Auckland, which just bagged the top spots in global consulting firm Mercer’s 2023 Quality of Living survey for expatriates.
WORLD
Dubai unveils investing force to house assets worth billions
The Dubai Investment Fund will house assets worth billions of dollars and invest government funds, surpluses and the general reserve locally and internationally, state-run news agency WAM said on Monday.
WORLD
Geopolitics is biggest market risk in 2024, investor poll shows
“The biggest macroeconomic risk for 2024 is geopolitical bad actors who with one action can upset economic and market assumptions globally,” the poll of 500 institutional investors from around the world found.
