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Joe Biden and his Republican rival Donald Trump traded attacks on abortion and their handling of the economy early in their debate on Thursday night, giving voters a rare side-by-side look at the two oldest candidates ever to seek the U.S. presidency. Biden, sounding hoarse and tentative at times, stumbled over his words on occasion, while Trump rattled off one attack after another that included several well-worn falsehoods, including claims that migrants have carried out a crime wave and that Democrats support infanticide.

Going by the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) latest Financial Stability Report released on Thursday, banks are nice and stable. Bad loans as a proportion of overall loans are at multi-year lows, with their gross ratio standing at 2.8% in March 2024, which could decline further to 2.5% by March next. Their capital buffers have been well over regulatory minimums, and tests show they would be adequate in stress scenarios.

household debt, having already raised the risk weighting on unsecured retail exposure to moderate the pace of credit expansion in a loan segment that could prove vulnerable in the future. «With overall household savings declining to 18.4% of GDP (gross domestic product) in FY23 from an average of 20% of GDP over 2013-2022, and coupled with an increasing trend in financial liabilities, household debt warrants close monitoring from a financial stability perspective,» the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its latest Financial Stability Report released on Wednesday.

Donald Trump's from-the-hip style may start making financial markets volatile again — and that's just fine for a breed of global fast-money traders who thrive on that. With he and President Joe Biden running neck-and-neck ahead of their first debate Thursday night, investors have already been trying to game out how the Republican's return to the White House could affect everything from the electric-vehicle industry to the direction of long-term interest rates.

The Federal Reserve should wait to cut interest rates until «at least» the end of the year, according to the head of the International Monetary Fund. The U.S. is the only G20 economy to see growth above pre-pandemic levels, and «robust» growth indicates ongoing upside risks to inflation, the 190-country agency said.

social sectors Thursday called on finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who chaired the customary pre-Budget consultation meeting, to further step up focus on health and education. They argued such a move will not just lead to greater ease of living but also bolster the economy's productive capacity. Some of them also called for raising the budgetary spending on these critical social sectors, said a person aware of the deliberations. The full Budget for FY25 will be presented next month.

monsoon has covered more than three-fourths of the country and it is set to cover the entire country on time for the planting season despite stalling earlier this month, two senior weather officials said on Thursday. Summer rains, critical for economic growth in Asia's third-largest economy, usually begin in the south around June 1 before spreading nationwide by July 8, allowing farmers to plant crops such as rice, cotton, soybeans, and sugarcane. «Monsoon is advancing quickly in northern India and will cover the entire country on time,» said an official of the India Meteorological Department (IMD), who spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the media.

The average rate on a 30-year mortgage eased again this week, extending a welcome trend for prospective homebuyers facing record-high home prices

Laffer Tengler Investments CEO and CIO Nancy Tengler explains why she's recommending investing in equities over bonds for the long term.

The Czech Republic’s central bank has cut its key interest rate for the fifth straight time as inflation remains low and the economy shows signs of recovery

The Canadian government has ended the Newfoundland and Labrador cod moratorium, which gutted the Atlantic-coast province’s economy and transformed its small communities more than 30 years ago

Stocks are barely budging on Wall Street as markets wait for a key report on inflation

Fewer people applied for unemployment benefits last week but the total number of Americans collecting jobless benefits rose to the highest level in more than two years

A flurry of megadeals early in the year failed to translate into a sustained recovery in mergers and acquisitions after the momentum was stymied by skittish central banks and geopolitical unease.

Parents giving money to their kids to buy a home took off during the pandemic when real estate went through the roof.

WASHINGTON: First-time applications for U.S. unemployment benefits drifted lower last week, which could allay fears of a material shift in the labor market. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted 233,000 for the week ended June 22, the Labor Department said on Thursday. The claims data included last Wednesday's Juneteenth National Independence Day, a new holiday. Claims tend to be volatile around public holidays.

It has been hard to make money in Chinese stocks. Unlike the U.S. market, even the country’s tech giants have disappointed investors in the past few years.

Hindustan Zinc has given multibagger returns, surging almost 105 percent. It was followed by Vedanta, which jumped over 68 percent and Jindal Stainless, up over 40 percent. Meanwhile, JSPL, NALCO, and Tata Steel also advanced between 20 and 40 percent.

Expert view: RBI may implement shallow rate cut even if US Fed defers, says Rajani Sinha of CareEdge Among developed economies, the European Central Bank, Bank of Canada and the Swiss National Bank have started trimming interest rates. The usual trendsetter for global monetary policy decisions, the US Federal Reserve, is still in a wait-and-watch mode. As for emerging markets, key central banks such as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Bank of Korea, Bank of Indonesia and People’s Bank of China are maintaining the status quo on key lending rates.

NEW DELHI:The upcoming budget for 2024-25 will unveil major economic reforms and present a roadmap for Viksit Bharat, the government’s push to propel India towards ‘developed nation’ status by 2047, President Droupadi Murmu said addressing the joint session of Parliament on Thursday.“Along with significant economic and social decisions, this budget will include many historic steps as the government prepares to present its first budget in the forthcoming session. It will be an effective document outlining the government’s far-reaching policies and futuristic vision," Murmu said.Union finance minister is expected to present the budget for financial year 2024-25 next month.Murmu said reforms in infrastructure development, manufacturing and industrial policy, digital economy, green energy transition, agriculture, healthcare, and financial sectors have helped strengthen India’s economy.Also read |Unemployment and inflation call for revising budget priorities“In a decade, India has risen from the 11th to the 5th largest economy," Murmu said.

Union Budget will see India undertaking many historic economic policies and reforms will be undertaken at a faster pace, President Droupadi Murmu said in her Parliament address. «India is contributing 15 per cent to the global economy. In the upcoming sessions, this government is going to present the first budget of this term. This budget will be an effective document of the government's far-reaching policies and futuristic vision,» Murmu said as she addressed a joint sitting of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. Along with big economic and social decisions, many historic steps will also be seen in this budget," the President said.