WORLD
Apple loses one of the last remaining designers from Jony Ive era
The executive worked on hardware design for Apple’s main products and helped craft the look of its headquarters and retail stores.
BUSINESS
India share-sale frenzy is seen continuing in 2024, bankers say
Initial public offerings and follow on share sales in India this year exceeded Hong Kong for the first time in at least 30 years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
BUSINESS
Hindenburg’s Adani, Icahn calls mark year of prominent bets
The US firm kicked off 2023 with allegations of accounting fraud and stock manipulation against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani’s conglomerate that led to a market value erosion of more than $150 billion at one point.
WORLD
Apple plans rescue for $17 billion watch business in face of ban
Engineers at the company are racing to make changes to algorithms on the device that measure a user’s blood oxygen level — a feature that Masimo Corp. has argued infringes its patents.
WORLD
Gina Rinehart’s Hancock, SQM agree to buy Azure for $1.1 billion
SQM and the iron ore billionaire’s Hancock Prospecting Pty. have put forward a binding cash amount of A$3.70 per share for the Perth-based miner, an offer that’s been unanimously recommended by Azure’s board.
WORLD
China flows into new stock funds plunge to lowest in decade
Households have been reluctant to take on more risk this year as post-Covid uncertainties over employment and declining property prices push them to prioritize early mortgage repayments and cash savings.
WORLD
Wall Street forced by Fed to rethink 2024 bond yields
Bond-market projections for next year that looked pessimistic when they were published in November became untenable as yields slumped following the Fed’s pivot toward cutting interest rates next year. Some already upbeat calls were also completely overtaken by events.
TECHNOLOGY
SenseTime plunges after death of China AI firm’s Co-Founder
The Chinese firm’s growth has slowed dramatically in the face of rapidly intensifying competition. The US government blacklisted the company in 2019 on allegations related to human rights violations in Xinjiang.
WORLD
China should trim US Treasury holdings, Ex-PBOC adviser says
America’s debt levels may continue rising relative to the size of the US economy, Yu Yongding said in a speech in the southern city of Sanya on Sunday.
WORLD
Revival of winter travel turns jet fuel into oil’s bright spot
The post-pandemic recovery of air travel is gaining pace in China and India, while the US is expecting to see record travel demand during the holiday season.
BUSINESS
Oil boon will add extra zip to rally in emerging-market assets
Brent crude’s slide of more than 20 percent from its September peak suggests inflation is set to slow even further in developing nations in coming months, which will provide another reason to buy their bonds.
BUSINESS
Adani Group’s Ambuja Cements to invest $723 million in Green Energy projects
The Mumbai-based cement maker, which the Adani Group acquired from Holcim Ltd. last year, will be funding this investment through internal accruals, it said in an exchange filing Monday.
BUSINESS
Goldman ramps up credit business in India, targets rich diaspora
The investment bank wants to broaden the range of loans it offers through its shadow banking unit, according to Sonjoy Chatterjee, chairman and chief executive officer for Goldman in India.
BUSINESS
Goldman sees India to Australia easing policy earlier after Fed
They have now brought forward Indonesia and Taiwan’s first rate cut to the second quarter of next year and India, Australia and New Zealand’s to the third quarter, having previously anticipated a loosening at the end of 2024.
BUSINESS
Motorcycle icon Royal Enfield faces fresh challenge from Harley in India’s biker paradise
Rather than a Royal Enfield favored by her father and several million other riders in India, Sandhu opted for a slick roadster from UK-based Triumph.
TECHNOLOGY
Royal Enfield faces fresh challenge from Harley in India’s biker paradise
Like Triumph, US giant Harley-Davidson Inc. is also renewing efforts in India, where Royal Enfield is revered to a similar extent as Harley is in the US.
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.
