Economy Financial News

By Alexandra Ulmer, Gram Slattery and Nathan Layne

By James Oliphant

Bloomberg. As per the report, the share of food in monthly consumption in rural areas declined to 46.4 percent in the latest survey, from 53 percent in 2011-12. The non-food consumption increased to 53.6 percent from 47 percent, the survey showed as reported by Bloomberg.

Austria, an export-oriented economy, is increasingly targeting South Asia and SE Asia with India topping the list to export its products including machinery, chemical and pharmaceutical products, automobile related items, said Martin Kocher Austrian Minister for Labour and Economy. “Austria is focusing on South Asian and SE Asian markets in a big way since the Russian market has been closed following the war. India is of special interest to Austria given its complementarities in the field of economy. Austria also serves as the gateway to the German speaking markets of Europe,” Martin Kocher Austrian Minister for Labour and Economy told ET during his weeklong visit to India for the Raisina Dialogue.

Now it's United Airlines' turn to raise fees for checking bags

Pakistan’s imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan is writing a letter to the International Monetary Fund urging it to link any talks with Islamabad to an audit of the country’s recent election

The Biden administration, leaders of four Columbia River Basin tribes and the governors of Oregon and Washington have signed papers formally launching a $1 billion plan to help recover depleted salmon populations in the Pacific Northwest

Several Federal Reserve policymakers are warning against cutting U.S. interest rates too soon or by too much in the wake of recent data showing inflation stayed unexpectedly high in January

Germany's businesses remain mired in pessimism despite a small uptick in the latest survey, as Europe’s largest economy struggles with shortages of skilled labor, slower global trade, and political squabbling

Mrinal Singh, CEO & CIO, InCred AMC, says “one can look at our cash as a proxy largecap allocation. We have kept that largely in anticipation of volatility in the market and we would look to deploy it as the market offers volatility at interesting prices.” Did you come across that note, kind of a very honest admission from Chris Wood in the Greed & Fear newsletter, saying that, yes, India is the best game in town right now with superior macros? All of that is fine, but a kind of admission that it is turning out to be quite expensive. As a practitioner, are you finding it challenging too? Mrinal Singh: Yes, that is a practical challenge, yes. We had the market run up significantly in the last 12-18 months where it makes it more challenging. Obviously, when the valuations are elevated, the potential returns get subdued, so you need to also manage the return expectations and you need to go down the ladder in terms of market cap, you need to actually dig deeper and we expect customers to have a higher horizon when they make an entry at this juncture. It does become challenging when the markets have a very sharp run up in a short span of time.

Chirag Setalvad, Head- Equities, HDFC AMC, says the government is spending a tremendous amount of money on infra and hence businesses related to infra and investments are doing extremely well. So, that is the first part. The second is private capex has been a laggard and it has been a laggard now for 3, 4, 5, 6 years, right. It has been the great hope and it has not panned out. But eventually it will, it is not like we are never going to spend capex on the private sector side. So, that will be the second leg which will eventually drop. The capex story can continue for many years. It will bring in construction companies. It will bring in equipment providers. That is the story which has strong legs and many years to go. Clear tailwinds are visible there. A purist who tracks technology tells me AI is just a passing phase. It happened with Y2K, they evolved. It happened with the enterprise, they evolved. It happened with digital, they evolved and they survived Covid. AI is something which will be part of every Indian IT services DNA and they will fly in coming quarters. What is your understanding? Chirag Setalvad: I do not think any of us know what AI is.

Donald Trump is hoping to use a sizeable victory in South Carolina's Republican primary on Saturday to convince rival Nikki Haley to drop out of the presidential race. While the outcome is expected to put Trump even closer to clinching the party's nomination, Haley has vowed to press on. Here are some takeaways from the South Carolina primary:

Trump cast November's presidential election as «judgment day» and declared himself a «proud political dissident» during a speech before conservative activists outside of Washington Saturday as he again cloaked his campaign in religious imagery. Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference on the day of South Carolina's Republican primary, Trump painted an apocalyptic vision of the future if President Joe Biden wins a second term as the two prepare for an expected rematch election.

US forces and the United Kingdom Armed Forces, with the support of several other countries, conducted strikes against 18 Houthi targets in Iranian-backed Houthi terrorist-controlled areas of Yemen, according to the US Central Command. The joint strikes, with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, and New Zealand, were conducted on Saturday at 11:50 pm. CENTCOM shared on X, stating, «On Feb. 24, at approximately 11:50 p.m. (Sanaa Yemen time), U.S. Central Command forces alongside UK Armed Forces, and with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, and New Zealand, conducted strikes against 18 Houthi targets in Iranian-backed Houthi terrorist-controlled areas of Yemen.»

Divam Sharma, Founder and Fund Manager at Green Portfolio, PMS, underscores that the market sentiment is upbeat but a lot of things are currently quite expensive so investors should be cautious while investing since markets are very volatile right now. In an interview with Mint, Sharma shared his views on a tug-of-war between FIIs and DIIs and Fed rate cut expectations also. Edited excerpts: ⁠Markets have done great over the last year.

Reuters. The British PM made this statement to mark two years since the beginning of the war, he said Ukraine continued to need more long-range weapons, drones and munitions, as well as other assistance, in an article in an early edition of the Sunday Times. The first British Asian prime minister further said, "We must be bolder in hitting the Russian war economy ....

By Olena Harmash and Angelo Amante

Congress saying the grand old party cannot think beyond 'parivarvaad' (nepotism), corruption and appeasement and the country's development has never been on its agenda. After independence, the Congress ruled the country for a long time but its focus was only on forming the government and not building the future of the country, said Modi while virtually addressing the 'Viksit Bharat Viksit Chhattisgarh' programme. He dedicated to the nation and laid the foundation stones of ten development projects worth over Rs 34,400 crore on the occasion and said when India becomes the world's third-largest economy in the next five years, Chhattisgarh will reach new heights of development. "..those who ruled the country for a long time after the independence, their thinking was not big and they kept on taking decisions keeping in mind (their) political interests. Congress was elected to power again and again but forgot to build the future of the country," the PM said.

Angela Rayner has said. Rayner, the deputy leader of the opposition in the UK and a senior leader of the Labour Party, said she wants the UK and India to build on history, and see the trade agreement go forward. In an interview with PTI on the sidelines of the Raisina Dialogue in Delhi, Rayner said, «I first visited (India) in 2007 and to see the transformation that has happened and to see India on course to be the third largest economy, it just shows how amazing India has done and the progress that has been made.» «Part of that is about the policies that the government has introduced around recognising women's role and not just in terms of women's role in society but how crucial it is for the economy. If you want to grow in economy, then having women in empowerment is crucial to that,» she said.

American Airlines and JetBlue Airways, United Airlines announced on Friday a surge in checked baggage fees for customers traveling within North America. Effective February 24, passengers flying economy in the U.S. with United will incur a charge of $40 for the first checked bag or $35 if paid in advance. The second checked bag will now cost $50 at the airport and $45 in advance. This move by major U.S. airlines comes against a backdrop of increasing maintenance and labor contract costs for carriers coupled with a weakening pricing power in the domestic market. Notably, this marks the third hike in checked baggage fees by United in the past four years. Previously, United raised prices for checked bags at airports by $5 to $35, with a reduced rate of $30 for online advance payments. The fee adjustments align with broader industry trends, as U.S. airlines collectively collected nearly $6.8 billion in baggage fees in 2022 and an additional $5.5 billion in the first nine months of 2023. These increases are reflective of the financial challenges faced by the industry, with rising costs attributed to factors such as increased wages, higher fuel costs, and other inflationary pressures.

Gold And Silver Prices Today: Gold prices experienced a marginal decrease on Saturday. The price of 24 carat gold is Rs.6399.2 per gm, down by Rs.214.0, while the cost of 22 carat gold is Rs.5861.7 per gm, down by Rs.196.0.