Economy Financial News

Federal Reserve. Traders on Wednesday added to bets that the Federal Reserve will deliver a half-a-percentage-point reduction at its next meeting, after data showed job openings in July fell to the lowest level in three and a half years.

On Wednesday, the Bank of Canada cut its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points for the third consecutive time, bringing it down to 4.25 per cent. Economists are predicting further interest rate cuts by the central bank for the remainder of the year and into 2025. Here’s what experts have to say about the impact of the cuts on Canada’s real estate markets:

Canadians have been resilient during the high interest rate regime of the past couple of years and have handled their mortgage debt “exceptionally well,” Royal Bank of Canada’s chief executive Dave McKay said on the same day the Bank of Canada announced a third consecutive 25-basis point rate cut.

₹58,000-crore quick service restaurant industry, the challenge form restaurant aggregators isn’t new. But the post-pandemic revenge dining boom has petered out, while Covid-driven surge in home deliveries continues. Consumers cutting back on spending to counter inflation has made it worse.

The Bank of Canada lowered its key interest rate by 25 basis points on Wednesday and opened the door to bigger cuts if the economy slows more sharply in the months ahead.

The Bank of Canada cut its interest rate for the third consecutive time on Wednesday.

Global stocks are tumbling after Wall Street had its worst day since early August, as a week full of economic updates got off to a weak start

Donald Trump is betting that Americans crave trillions of dollars in tax cuts — and that growth will be so fantastic that it’s not worth worrying about budget deficits

Carmaker Volvo has backed away from its pledge to stop selling cars with internal combustion motors by 2030, saying slow rollout of places to charge up and withdrawal of purchase incentives will leave room for a few cars that still need fossil fuels

Three judicial officials have told the Associated Press that Lebanon has charged its embattled former central bank governor with the embezzlement of $42 million

Here’s the Bank of Canada’s official statement for its rate decision:

Frontier Airlines CEO Barry Biffle discusses growth opportunities for low-cost fares, the failed JetBlue-Spirit merger and more on 'Maria Bartiromo's Wall Street.' 

Labour Day in the US was on 2 September, an appropriate moment to consider the term ‘unskilled.’ Economists have used it for as long as I can remember, and at some point, I became numb to it, thinking it was just a neutral classification. But it’s not neutral—it’s both demeaning and misleading. Often people have incredible skills; they just aren’t skills currently in high demand.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, while reviewing the Agriculture and Horticulture Department in the Secretariat on Tuesday, directed the officials to make effective efforts towards increasing the economy of farmers in the state more rapidly. «It should be ensured that farmers as a package. Programs should be organised at the state and district level so that farmers get the full benefit of various schemes being run by the central and state governments in the interest of farmers,» Dhami said. Dhami directed the officials in the meeting to expedite the construction of polyhouses, which would help increase the income of farmers and promote self-employment.

Ajay Bagga, Market Expert, says the rural economy coming back is the bigger story. For banks, the issue is twofold. One is there is going to be a NIM compression given that there is a deposit war out there and that sustainable funding is still being sought. A big chunk of the financial savings are going into the markets through various instruments like mutual funds, insurance, provident funds, NPS, or direct investments. Bank deposits are hurting. They have to increase rates and that is causing a NIM compression. Long-term, banks will do well as they are the suppliers to a growing economy. But in the next six months, one can find much better returns in power financiers or insurance or mutual fund companies. How are you looking at the entire IT space, given that we have seen an outperformance continuing into this month? What do you expect the remainder of the year is likely to bring for the IT space? Ajay Bagga: IT is looking good. There is continued buying in IT and we expect better results coming in. The AI part, was the cause for worry and we had seen the employee headcount going down as well. Now we are seeing several end uses of AI coming in. The semiconductor companies, as the suppliers of the AI chain, were doing very well and the end user companies were looking at end-use cases, and in the centre were our IT companies.

Indian government bonds has accelerated through August as decision-influencing US data and Federal Reserve commentary point toward a rate cut later this month, but are not alarming by themselves to trigger a risk-off sentiment on Wall Street and dent financial assets in the world's fastest-expanding major economy. From July 31 to August 30, the indicative value of foreign portfolio investors' aggregate holdings in fully accessible route (FAR) government bonds increased by ₹23,914 crore, or around $2.85 billion, to ₹2.29 lakh crore, an analysis of official clearing house data showed. The inflow topped the broad market expectations of around $2 billion of average monthly inflows following the inclusion of local debt in a JP Morgan index.

Recently, a two-wheeler dealership with a few dozen employees was in the news for an initial public offer (IPO) that attracted 400 times the money it sought to raise. This subscription rush highlighted the casino-like appeal of IPOs that seems to have taken retail investors in its thrall. Now, a study by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) suggests that Indian investors have a large number of gamblers in their midst.

dollar remained firm on Wednesday while riskier currencies like sterling and the Aussie dollar languished as investors ran for safety following the worst sell-off in almost a month on Wall Street. The catalyst was ostensibly some soft U.S. manufacturing data, which fanned worries about a hard landing for the economy, as traders braced for crucial monthly payrolls data on Friday.

Wall Street posted its worst day since the Aug. 5 rout, as weak US data and falling oil prices raised concerns about the health of the global economy. Japan led the slump, with the Nikkei 225 down over 3%. Shares also fell in Australia and South Korea, while futures pointed to losses in Hong Kong. US contracts edged lower in early Asian trading after the S&P 500 fell more than 2%, with Nvidia Corp. driving a plunge in tech stocks.

Mahesh Nandurkar, Jefferies, says he would be wary about IT services companies, select PSU names that have run up quite hard as well as select midcaps and small-caps. He would prefer to sit on the sidelines on some of those from the short and medium-term perspective. Nandurkar also says that barring one sector, the other sectors of the economy are seeing private sector investments already coming through. Sectorally, where are you most cautious right now?

Kamala Harris will propose a tax deduction of up to $50,000 for new small businesses on Wednesday, a tenfold increase over existing relief and her latest economic policy aimed at winning over middle-class Americans after jumping into the presidential race over a month ago. Harris is aiming to draw a contrast with her opponent, Republican Donald Trump, on broad economic strategy, specifically on tariffs and taxes. Her progressive economic agenda is focused on taxing wealthier individuals and companies more, and increased federal funding for child care and other social programs aimed at working parents. The new plan, to be announced in New Hampshire, will propose expanding the startup expense deduction for small businesses from $5,000 to $50,000, a campaign official said. On average, it costs $40,000 to start a new business, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.