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About 40% of small business owners think 2024 will be a “make or break” year for their business, according to a survey by messaging service Slack

Vedanta, National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC), Tata Steel traded lower on Tuesday, February 20 after data suggested that iron ore slumped to a three-month low as investors fretted that steel demand wouldn’t stage a strong recovery in China after the Lunar New Year break. Futures sank more than five per cent in Singapore to hit the lowest intraday price since early November, following a drop in the week’s opening session.

NEW DELHI : India’s economy is performing well, with risks evenly balanced, to achieve 7% growth in FY25, but geopolitical tensions and geo-economic fragmentation pose risks to the country’s growth, the finance ministry said in its latest monthly economic review. In its economic review for January, the ministry said risks to global trade, including a spike in commodity prices due to the Houthi militant group’s attacks on important trade routes in the Red Sea region, have resulted in supply chain disruptions.

Reserve Bank of India believes that global interest rates may have peaked while achieving the inflational target looks like a prolonged journey. In India repeated food shocks are preventing the positive impact of falling core inflation from manifesting itself in lower Consumer Price Index, the central bank said in its state of the economy report. «While the tightening cycle appears to have run itself out, the path forward remains bounded by the final downslide of inflation to targets which is proving daunting due to the materialisation of tail events,» researchers with RBI's economic wing said. In India, CPI inflation was projected at 4.5% for the financial year 2024-25, a good 90 basis points lower than the estimated average for 2023-24.

exports to achieve a 10% growth rate for the economy, said Arvind Panagariya, chairman of the Sixteenth Finance Commission. “I’ve looked at successful countries such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, China, and India – these are the six high-growth examples. My conclusion is very clear – countries that have been open are the ones that have grown rapidly,” Panagariya said. The former vice chairman of Niti Aayog further highlighted that the country needed to follow China’s strategy to increase its per-capita income and wean away from idea of import substitution.

Reserve Bank of India in the February edition of its monthly bulletin said that expectations of a fresh round of capital expenditure by the corporate sector will likely fuel the next leg of growth. RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said that investment cycle in India is gaining steam, thanks to sustained thrust on government capex, increasing capacity utilisation, rising flow of resources to the commercial sector, and policy support from schemes such as production linked incentive (PLI scheme).

inflation rate has edged up and down over the last several months after dropping from its 2022 highs as global price pressures fade and the economy cools.Statistics Canada is set to release its January consumer price index report on Tuesday and forecasters expect Canada’s inflation rate fell. RBC, CIBC and TD all project the annual rate eased to 3.2 per cent, down from 3.4 per cent in December.Nathan Janzan, RBC’s assistant chief economist says the slowdown was likely driven by energy and food prices.“Gasoline prices were lower than a year ago in January and food price growth probably continued to slow on a year over-year-basis,” he said.“I think the attention will be more focused on the other components of CPI, just watching for signs that broader inflation pressures are continuing to slow, if only at a gradual pace.”As high borrowing costs cause consumers and businesses to pull back on spending, inflation is expected to slowly inch closer to the two per cent target by the end of the year.But unlike what’s typical when interest rates rise, the housing market won’t be helping the economy slow.

Investing.com-- The People’s Bank of China cut its five-year benchmark loan prime rate by a bigger-than-expected margin on Tuesday, loosening monetary conditions further in a bid to support a slowing economic recovery in the country. 

Investing.com-- Most Asian stocks retreated on Tuesday, extending recent losses as persistent concerns over slowing economic growth and high U.S. interest rates largely offset a bigger-than-expected cut in China’s benchmark lending rate.

Pakistan's debt situation, describing it as a "raging fire" that has become unsustainable, as per a Bloomberg report. This assessment is more severe than that of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which had previously deemed the country's dues as "borderline" manageable, according to a 68-page report by Tabadlab.

Speaking to Bloomberg's UK Politics podcast, he said the BoE's credibility is under threat if it does not pivot on interest rates. Haldane, who was chief economist between 2014 and 2021 and is now CEO of the Royal Society of Arts, argued the UK is still «looking at best, at a year of anaemic growth», citing risks on the downside as well. UK enters technical recession as economy shrinks 0.3% in Q4 2023 He said there was a risk the BoE could worsen the UK's recession unless it started loosening its monetary policy, claiming that is where the «balance of risks lies». «For me, the c...

bull run is likely to continue for a long time to come since the structural growth of the Indian economy will continue, believes Abhishek Tiwari, executive director and Chief Business Officer of PGIM India Mutual Fund. In a telephonic interview with MintGenie, he also sheds light on the scope of growth that some good quality small and mid-cap stocks can offer. Mr Tiwari also says healthcare and pharma are likely to do well in the immediate future, while financial services – as a sector – is a ‘good buy’ for the medium to long term.

Russian investigators have yet to determine the official cause of opposition leader Alexei Navalny's death, his spokeswoman said on Monday, after prison authorities said he suddenly dropped dead following a walk in the «Polar Wolf» penal colony. Navalny's death robs Russia's disparate opposition of its most charismatic and courageous leader as President Vladimir Putin prepares for an election that will keep him in power until at least 2030.

Demat accounts more than trebled over the covid period, even as mutual funds drew large inflows. The trouble with the hypothesis of asset-earned holidays is that it’s unclear if we have had a wide enough dispersal of sizeable gains. Retail investors with shares worth over ₹1 crore, for example, can possibly envision dividends (and/or notional capital gains) paying for a family holiday, but it is hard to picture new investors in the same league.

Oil prices were little changed in early Asian trading on Tuesday, hovering close to three-week highs on heightened Middle East tensions and recovering China demand. Brent futures ticked down 8 cents to $83.48 a barrel by 0133 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for April delivery inched down 10 cents to $78.36 a barrel. The March WTI contract rose 26 cents to $79.45 a barrel as traders prepared for that contract to expire during the day.

yen was pinned near a three-month low against the dollar on Tuesday as sticky U.S. inflation bolstered the case for higher-for-longer interest rates, contrasting with a recession in Japan and market doubts about a near-term exit from its easy policy. In Asia, China's loan prime rate (LPR) decision takes centre stage, where it is widely expected to trim its benchmark mortgage reference rate to shore up the country's faltering economic growth.

NEW DELHI : Bosch Ltd is looking to boost investments in R&D and increasing local production of components such as hub motors used in electric two-wheelers (e2w), a top company official said, as adoption of green mobility widens in the world’s fifth-largest economy. The local arm of Germany’s Bosch GmbH also aims to expand its research and development efforts for passenger car electrification in India. “We are looking at continued investments in the passenger car segment.

SlateStone Wealth chief market strategist Kenny Polcari and 'The Big Money Show' co-host Taylor Riggs discuss whether rising inflation is affecting consumer spending on 'Making Money.'

rupee was the most stable emerging market currency in the past year amid global economic uncertainty. What are the factors that contributed to its relative stability? It is largely the narrowing current account deficit (CAD), besides robust economic fundamentals. Atmadip Ray explains how CAD influences the rupee movement and what are the consequences of a high deficit ratio. What is CAD? A country's current account is a calculation of the total value of goods and services imported and exported. If the value of goods and services imported exceeds the value of goods and services exported, then the current account turns into deficit mode. It considers the sum of trade balance and net income of companies from abroad. The current account deficit or surplus is expressed as a percentage of gross domestic product.

The notable trend of women amassing wealth and gaining prominence as investors is striking. Their wealth is presently experiencing a faster growth rate compared to men, and projections suggest it could reach 35% by 2025. This reflects an annual growth rate of 5.7%, surpassing the 5.2% growth rate observed for men.

It is common to think of US-China tensions as the inevitable result of stark differences between the two countries. The US has a fully capitalist market economy, whereas the Chinese government keeps a strong hand on the economic tiller. For all its faults, the US is a democracy, whereas China is a single-party regime that brooks no political challenge.