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A top Federal Reserve official said he's increasingly confident that inflation will continue falling this year back to the Fed’s 2% target level, after two years of accelerating price spikes that hurt millions of American households

Thanks to the Martin Luther King Day holiday, FX markets were quiet-ish on Monday without the participation of US banks.

The upside case for the stock market is slowly becoming the base case, according to UBS equity strategists.

Donald Trump cultivating a deep network of support over three presidential runs. About 7 in 10 Iowans who caucused for Trump on Monday night said they have known all along that they would support a man who has remade the Republican Party through his “Make America Great Again” political movement. Trump was carried to victory by the majority of caucusgoers who say they back it, a sign of his growing influence in a state that denied him a victory eight years ago.

Fitch Ratings Tuesday affirmed India’s rating at ‘BBB-‘ with a stable outlook, underpinned by strong domestic and external fundamentals. “India's rating is underpinned by a robust medium-term GDP growth outlook and sound external finances, which remain intact as the country has effectively navigated a fraught external environment in the past few years,” the global rating agency noted. The global rating agency also revised its growth forecast for the year upwards to 6.9% from the 6% projected earlier. It pointed out that India will remain the fastest-growing economy in the next few years as economic momentum proves resilient, projecting 6.5% growth in the coming fiscal. “Investment is likely to remain a key growth driver, as the government's capex drive is likely to continue, and private investment should accelerate gradually. Consumption is likely to moderate further in the near term due to reduced household savings buffers,” Fitch said. The first official estimates released by the government earlier this month pegged the country’s growth at 7.3%, driven by a higher investment rate. Fitch noted that the government’s infrastructure push, a strong private investment outlook and favourable dynamics will keep the country’s potential growth at 6.2%. “The improved health of bank and corporate balance sheets should pave the way for a positive investment cycle.

automobile industry will have the highest contribution to the country's rise as the third largest economy, Heavy Industries Minister Mahendra Nath Pandey said Tuesday. Speaking at the auto Production Linked Incentive (PLI) conclave in New Delhi, he said, «India is today the fifth largest economy in the world and soon India will be the third largest economy in the world.

Canada is caught in a “population trap” for the first time in modern history and needs to limit immigration to escape it, say economists with the National Bank of Canada.

Economists have been planning for the possibility of recession in 2024 — technical or otherwise — for months. But some on the outlook panel suggested the gloomier scenarios may be overdone and that Canada might avoid a recession altogether. “We’re reasonably optimistic that we avoid a recession, in the traditional sense of the word,” panelist Jean-François Perrault said, adding that while there’s no question the economy has slowed, households are hanging in there. That provides some comfort that some of the worst potential outcomes won’t materialize.

Investing.com — U.S. stock futures fell Tuesday ahead of the release of more important bank earnings, which, along with a speech by Fed Governor Christopher Waller, could provide more clues as to the economic health of the world’s largest economy. 

Shares are lower in Europe and Asia, with Hong Kong's benchmark down more than 2% as jitters over China's outlook cast a shadow over regional markets

Li Qiang said on Tuesday in Davos the Chinese economy was open for business and highlighted its potential for foreign investment as its vast population becomes rapidly more urban and its middle class is forecast to grow. As China grapples with a sluggish post-pandemic recovery and a real estate slump, overseas executives have grown concerned about its long-term growth prospects for the first time in the four decades since Beijing opened it up to foreign investment.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump would be a «transactional president» if he returns to power, but is unlikely to blow up the Biden administration's rebuilding of relations with China, according to Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters.

Emerging-market stocks have dropped in the first half of January, something that hasn’t happened since 2016. Sentiment has taken a knock from growing uncertainty about when the Federal Reserve will begin to loosen monetary policy, with traders keenly awaiting a speech by Fed Governor Christopher Waller later Tuesday for insights. Meanwhile, investors are scrambling to price a host of geopolitical events from the Middle East to the US, where markets are weighing a potential return of Donald Trump to the White House. MSCI Inc.’s index of developing-nation stocks slumped 1.2% on Tuesday, the most in almost two weeks, to trade at its lowest since Dec. 14 and extending its January declines to 4%. The currency index was led lower by South Korea’s won and the rand as a gauge for dollar strength rose to a one-month high. The last two comparable bad starts to a year have preceded major emerging-market rallies. In 2016, the January slump followed the first Fed rate hike in almost a decade. Higher US rates sparked a brief capital flight from riskier assets, leading to an 11% plunge by mid-January of 2016. However, things soon turned around as investors chased cheaper valuations, and EM stocks began a two-year, $8.3 trillion rally. Something similar happened in 2009. The Fed dropped benchmark interest rates to near zero in December 2008, but investors fretted over the lingering effects of the global financial crisis and continued to dump emerging-market stocks well into January. Months later, as the US began a bull market, sentiment toward EM improved too, driving the MSCI gauge 75% higher over 2009. Easing Volatility Underpins Case for Emerging-Market Rebound

India's engineering goods exports recorded a year-on-year growth of 10.20 per cent to USD 10.04 billion in December 2023. While this represents a strong rebound, the sector still faces uncertainties due to the prevailing global economic conditions, an EEPC official said. «It has been a challenging period for engineering exporters. Tensions in Europe and now in West Asia have posed significant downside risks,» Engineering Export Promotion Council of India Chairman Arun Kumar Garodia said. «Projections indicate a potential slowdown in global growth in 2024, and factors such as high interest rates and low consumer spending are expected to continue affecting the sector this year,» he said. Considering these factors, EEPC maintains a cautious optimism and hopes that geo-political tension will ease, leading to an improvement in the global macroeconomic situation, Garodia said.

Union budget consists of more than a dozen documents. The budget is structured in a way which helps the finance minister present it with clarity and in a detailed manner while also following what the law lays down. Certain documents which are part of the budget are mandatory under the law, such as the Annual Financial Statement, Finance Bill and Fiscal Policy Statements. Many other documents are necessitated for quick and easy understanding of the budget. Read our full Budget 2024 coverage here The budget begins with the finance minister's speech which summarises the state of the economy, the projections for the next year, the government's policy focus, and allocations for different departments and ministries. Below are details about other parts of the budget. Annual Financial Statement The Annual Financial Statement is mandated by Article 112 of the Constitution of India. It shows the estimated receipts and expenditure of the government for the next financial year along with actual numbers for the current financial year.

De Beers made one of the steepest cuts to its diamond prices in years, as the world’s top producer tries to revive gem sales after the market ground to a halt.

Investing.com — The U.S. dollar climbed higher in early European trade Tuesday, with risk sentiment hit by increased tensions in the Middle East as well as concerns that the Federal Reserve may delay interest rate cuts .

Also Read: China may be losing its sway over Taiwanese business The deliberations underscore efforts by President Xi Jinping’s government to shift spending responsibility from debt-laden local officials to central authorities in support of an economy that is struggling to maintain momentum. Rigid deflationary pressures, the ongoing property crisis and weak domestic demand are all weighing on activity and suppressing confidence, prompting calls among economists and investors for further stimulus.

Union Budget 2024: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is going to present an interim budget on February 1. This budget is not expected to include any major announcements — that will be left to the full budget which will be presented by the new government elected after the Lok Sabha elections in May. However, the interim budget will include what is at the heart of a budget — projections for the coming financial year, that is the calculations about income, spending and borrowings. Read our full Budget 2024 coverage How does the budget math work? What are the key calculations that go into the making of a budget? The process of budget-making is a forward-looking exercise, since it is for the coming year, and is based on several assumptions. The budget in effect is a matter of several projected numbers.

global CEOs, marking a notable jump from its previous ranking of ninth place in 2023, according to PwC’s 27th Annual Global CEO Survey, which polled 4,702 CEOs in 105 countries and territories, including 79 from India. As per the study, 70% of CEOs in India express high confidence in their company's potential for revenue growth in the coming three years. Furthermore, an overwhelming 86% of these CEOs believe that the Indian economy will witness improvement in the next 12 months.

Kedar Kadam, Director - Listed Investments at Waterfield Advisors is of the view that new large schemes may or may not be announced in this Interim Budget, but some existing popular schemes could see expansion/extra resources to boost implementation rates. In an interview with Mint, Kadam also shared his views on the domestic market and economy.