Usa Financial News

New Delhi: As India's job market battle intensifies, top tech firms are swapping staid job ads for influencer-marketing campaigns on Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn. Creators with millions of followers now spotlight job openings and work cultures, turning a single video into a flood of thousands of applications.Companies like Atlassian, 7-Eleven GCC, Octa, EPAM Systems, ServiceNow, Intuit, ZS Associates, and Infosys are leading this charge, betting on niche influencers’ social media reach to lure talent in a hyper-competitive landscape.“For us, it’s about visibility in the right places where top tech talent is consuming content.

Rising tensions between the US and Iran have pushed global energy prices higher, bringing ceramic tile manufacturers under pressure.

Late last month, the US Department of War labelled Anthropic, creator of the artificial intelligence (AI) system Claude, “a supply chain risk,” and began taking steps to remove it from all use in the department, including by contractors and subcontractors to its roughly $1 trillion annual spending. There are news reports that no company that does work with the Pentagon will be allowed to engage in “commercial activity” with Anthropic. President Donald Trump called Anthropic a “radical left, woke company” that he “fired… like dogs.” OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT and leading system in the AI race, swooped in within a day.

If proof were needed that even after decades of globalization, the world isn’t flat, Iran’s chokehold over the Strait of Hormuz is providing plenty. The opposing view might be summarized in four words, ‘The Revenge of Geography,’ the title of geopolitical analyst Robert Kaplan’s prescient book more than a decade ago.

These are sombre times for the world. The big conflict in West Asia is giving everyone the jitters. For readers of a business paper, the main questions would be related to its impact on markets.

₹18,500 per 100 kilograms in January, natural rubber price has risen to ₹21,600 in March so far. Soaring crude oil prices would add to this pain.

New Delhi: Indian refiners have ramped up daily domestic production of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) by around 10% in the past few days in the face of a supply squeeze from the US-Iran war, two people aware of the development said.The refiners have also secured 20 very large gas carriers (VLGC) carrying around 1 million tonne (mt) cargo, mostly from the US, the people said on condition of anonymity.However, the country is still short of another 20 VLGCs—totalling 2 mt—which Indian oil marketing companies (OMCs) have been scouting for since the war broke out on 28 February, these people added.“Production has already gone up by 10%,” the first person cited above said, adding that India is looking at sourcing more LPG from all available sources, including the US, Canada, Australia and Algeria.The second person said: “There was a shortfall of about 40 VLGCs, and 20 VLGCs have already been booked.

Mint spoke to said the same—inquiries have thinned, with no explanation about what has changed. IndiaMART has been their entire digital existence. But somewhere between a buyer’s question and an AI agent’s answer, their phones have begun to ring less often.IndiaMART, India’s largest business-to-business (B2B) marketplace, was built on a single premise: helping buyers find sellers.

Last week, I wrote about how frontier artificial intelligence (AI) has begun to improve exponentially—to the point where it is not just introducing linear improvements in functionality, but literally augmenting capabilities. Personally, this became evident when I realized I could code anything I could imagine, allowing me to create various applications and programs to eliminate micro-frustrations in my workflow. I am sure that those in other domains are experiencing similar capability uplifts.

After nine days of denial, the hard reality of an oil shock seems to have hit home. In the second week of joint US-Israel attacks on Iran, crude oil prices have leapt into three digits, with Brent within sniffing distance of $120 per barrel at one point. The oil spike battered stocks across Asia as plumes of smoke began to look like clouds of stagflation on the not-so-distant horizon.

Business News, Market News, Breaking News Events and Latest News Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates.

Mint explains.A report by US security research firm Soufan Center underlined that the US Department of War (formerly Department of Defense) used Anthropic’s Claude, embedded in Palantir’s battlefield intelligence suite Maven Smart System, to identify sharp targets during its strikes on Iran, called Operation Epic Fury. The uses also included simulating battlefield situations and strategies.

Indian rupee slid to a record low of ₹92.33 against the US dollar.While oil-marketing companies and air carriers will bear a direct brunt of the higher energy prices, others will face an indirect impact as oil prices feed into their input expenses. The Indian economy could take a hit if the inflationary effect of the conflict dents consumer demand.“India Inc will likely see a partial impact in the March quarter earnings for companies still operating on existing inventories, while the full effect could become more visible in the first quarter of the next fiscal year,” said Pramod Gubbi, founder of Marcellus Investment Managers, a portfolio management firm.If the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the global oil trade passes, remains closed for 2-6 weeks, it can push the three-month average Brent prices to $80-90, as per analysts at Nomura.

As the conflict in West Asia has nearly frozen all trade movement through the Strait of Hormuz, Indian law firms have seen a surge in queries from companies seeking clarity on whether they can invoke a rare clause to mitigate risk—force majeure.It is a contractual provision that allows a party to suspend or avoid its obligations if an unforeseen event outside its control makes performance impossible. These may include war, government restrictions or major disruptions to shipping routes, if specifically covered in the contract.“The energy sector is reaching out the most, especially companies importing LNG (liquefied natural gas) and crude who now face stranded cargoes and unreliable shipping schedules,” said Charanya Lakshmikumaran, executive partner at Laxmikumaran & Sridharan (LKS).“The shipping and logistics sector is next, dealing with mounting delays, higher war-risk premiums and rerouted vessels,” she said.

Stock market recap: The Indian equity markets witnessed a significant sell-off on Monday, as Nifty 50 plummeted 422.40 points (1.73%) to close at 24,028.05, while Sensex crashed 1,352.74 points (1.71%) to finish at 77,566.16.The downturn was primarily triggered by escalating geopolitical tensions between the US, Israel, and Iran, which sent Brent crude prices soaring above $114 per barrel. This energy shock, coupled with the Indian rupee hitting a record low of 92.35, sparked broad-based risk aversion.The advance-decline ratio was heavily skewed toward the bears, with over four stocks declining for every one that advanced, reflecting deep-seated weakness across the broader market.On the sectoral front, Nifty PSU Bank and Nifty Auto were the worst laggards, with heavyweights like SBI and Tata Motors facing intense pressure.

crude oil was trading at a $6.86 per barrel discount to the May contract of $104.53 at the time of writing. On 27 February, a day before the war began, it was just the opposite: the June contract was at a slight premium of 39 cents to the May contract, which quoted at $72.48, as per Bloomberg.Such flipping of discounts between near and far months—backwardation or inversion in technical parlance—points to supply disruptions due to the West Asia war.

Iran’s strategy in its war with the US and Israel is clear: Impose an intolerable economic cost on US President Donald Trump, forcing him to abandon his ‘war of choice’ as American petrol prices surge. Is there any way the Islamic Republic’s blueprint for survival can fail? Yes, if its old regional nemesis, Saudi Arabia, can step in to cushion the global oil market.Enter the East-West pipeline, a 1,200km conduit crisscrossing the Arabian Peninsula from the Gulf to the Red Sea. Its raison d’être is to meet this historic moment.

"Khamenei Out.” That was the title of an event wager on the prediction market Kalshi. On the website of its rival, Polymarket, wagers were being made on “the timing of the Iran war” just before it began. Posts by Bubblemaps, a blockchain analytics tool, on X indicate that six accounts collectively pocketed $1.2 million in profit from Polymarket bets.

Budget-friendly” isn’t typically a descriptor you find next to “MacBook.” But priced at $599—$499 with a student discount—Apple’s new MacBook Neo is the least expensive laptop it has ever offered. Expect its four colourful variants to start gracing college campuses and coffee shops very soon.Apple’s strategy seems straightforward: A cheaper laptop puts it in direct competition with Google’s Chromebook, now a mainstay of classrooms globally, plus a whole universe of Windows-powered laptops. It could lock in the next generation of Apple laptop users.Yet Apple could have justifiably made that kind of move at any point in the Chromebook’s almost 15 years on the market.

NEW DELHI: India builds some of the world’s fastest expanding highway networks but depends on imports for a large share of the bitumen used to bind asphalt.The country needs about 9 million tonnes of bitumen each year for road construction. In FY25, domestic production was 5.3 million tonnes, with the rest imported—largely from West Asia, a region currently facing conflict.Against this backdrop, bio-bitumen, an alternative derived from biomass, could replace up to a third of petroleum-based bitumen, potentially reducing India’s import dependence.

Bharat Forge Ltd stock hit an all-time high of ₹1,935.50 on Friday. It’s up 24% so far in 2026, making it the best performer in the Nifty Auto index. Ashok Leyland Ltd is a distant second, up 4%.