Economy Financial News

By Howard Schneider

By Paul Carsten

JPMorgan analysts offered fresh comments about the outlook for financial markets for the next year. The famous strategists anticipate “another challenging year for market participants.”

Investing.com — Most Asian currencies moved little on Friday as traders positioned for a potentially softer U.S. nonfarm payrolls reading, while the yen sat near a four-month high to the dollar tracking hawkish signals from the Bank of Japan. 

Investing.com — Markets are focusing in on the impending publication of the November U.S. nonfarm payroll report, a highly-anticipated data point that may shed more light on the state of the American labor market and serve as a signpost for the Federal Reserve's future policy choices. Elsewhere, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and its suppliers are reportedly aiming to move a quarter of global iPhone production to India, as the tech giant looks to reduce its reliance on China during a time of strained relations between the U.S. and Beijing.

Gold prices hit another record high this week after a roaring 2023, and a combination of geopolitical tensions and continued central bank buying should see demand remain resilient next year, according to the World Gold Council.

At the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting on December 08, 2023, the RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das announced the MPC’s decision to maintain the repo rate at 6.5 per cent. After a three-day bi-monthly meeting, the committee emphasized its dedication to maintaining its existing policy stance. It was evident from the announcement that the RBI has no intent to withdraw its accommodation stance regarding its decision on repo rates. 

Can the U.S. economy achieve a much-hyped “soft landing”

World shares are mostly higher ahead of a U.S. jobs report after Wall Street rose Thursday to snap its first three-day losing streak since Halloween

India has a two-to-three year window to capitalise on the global strategy of de-risking from China and the government must come up with a set of policies and programs that make doing business and shifting to India not just attractive but easier also, NITI Aayog vice chairman BVR Subrahmanyam said. “In the next 15 to 20 year time span, India has an opportunity in manufacturing. But the opportunity and the window for India is at best two to three years because supply chains are unwinding, becoming short term and looking for new geographies.

The year received $7 billion in total funding until December 5, a significant decline of 72 per cent, compared to $25 billion in the previous year.

Narendra Modi while inaugurating the Uttarakhand Global Investors Summit on Thursday said that the country must focus now on Vocal for local and Local for Global. Speaking at the event, PM Modi said "India's special development has happened in the last few years. There was a population of the country that was deprived of everything. Now, due to the government's schemes, more than 13 crore people have come out of poverty in just 5 years.

Sebi) chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch on Friday said the inclusion of Indian sovereign bonds in the global indices would not just help the government raise resources but also deepen the country’s corporate bond market. Speaking at the industry body CII’s Global Economic Policy Forum event in the capital, Buch said: “This is hugely important for us as a country, not only because it will help the government raise resources, but once the Indian yield curve is established globally, on the back of that, the corporate bond market can also get a lot of traction, and a lot of interest from foreign investors.” “And so we are hoping that down the line, it will be a case of my name is bond. Indian bond,” she added. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had in October said JPMorgan’s decision to include Indian government bonds in its widely tracked emerging market debt index could potentially lead to annual inflows of about $23 billion into the country. JPMorgan will start adding the securities from June 28, 2024 and India will have a maximum weight of 10% on the index. Same-day settlement Buch said Sebi wants to introduce the same-day settlement of trades on the bourses--or the T-plus zero regime--by the end of this fiscal year. The capital markets regulator also aims to move towards the instantaneous settlement regime within 12 months after that.

Mahesh Patil, CIO, ABSL AMC, says “a lot of the domestic sector focus are looking good, especially the kind of value what we have seen in the industrials, capital good, the power stocks, the backbones of the economy. If that is starting to recover, then we could see the broader market sustaining. But the recent rally has primarily been in the largecap space which was lagging behind. We have seen a good amount of money flow in the mid and smallcap space, That seems to have turned around. “ It has been a historic week, stepping into a historic month. What is the market construct looking like to you? So, yes, I think this month has been fairly good. We have seen positive results from the electorate in the state elections. The markets have taken a positive outlook that the election outcome would be slightly favourable and globally, also, despite all the concern about growth slowdown, we have seen a decent amount of rally.

rival brand when you are an airline CEO? It’s just another day of boarding the flight for AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes. Taking to Instagram, the entrepreneur revealed that he was unable to book a seat in AirAsia, and so opted to fly with Singapore Airlines flight. Sharing a picture of his seat inside the plane, Fernandes wrote, “No seat on @flyairasia for three flights so had to take @singaporeair.

carbon tax on certain imported goods, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday said, adding that «I will retaliate» if required. The CBAM (Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism) or carbon tax (a kind of import duty) will come into effect from January 1, 2026. However, from October 1 this year, domestic companies from seven carbon-intensive sectors, including steel, cement, fertiliser, aluminium and hydrocarbon products, will have to share data with regard to carbon emissions with the EU. «Bharat will address the problem of CBAM with confidence, and we will find solutions.

Inflation’s “volatility’” is keeping the Bank of Canada cautious about the future path for interest rate decisions, according to a senior central bank official.

RBI MPC meeting outcome: In 5th monetary policy meeting of teh financial year 2023-24, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to keep repo rate unchanged at 6.50 per cent. In fact, the RBI raised its gross domestic product (GDP) forecast for current fiscal by 50 bps, which has gone down well among markets and economic experts.

Bank of India (RBI) kept the repo rate unchanged at 6.5 per cent and maintained the policy stance of 'withdrawal of accommodation' on Friday, December 8. The standing deposit facility (SDF) rate remains at 6.25 per cent and the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the bank rate at 6.75 per cent. Besides, the RBI raised its real GDP growth projection for FY24 to 7 per cent from 6.5 per cent earlier with Q3 GDP at 6.5 per cent (against the estimates of 6 per cent earlier) and Q4 GDP at 6 per cent (against the estimates of 5.7 per cent earlier).

The Newsom Administration released an insightful report in response to Governor Gavin Newsom's Executive Order from September 2023. This report focuses on the utilization and potential challenges of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) within the California state government. As the first in a series of planned publications, it marks a significant step in the state's journey to harness and regulate this emerging technology.

Reserve Bank of India's decision to keep the repo rate unchanged for the fifth successive time at 6.5% is expected to support the housing property market and help sustain a consistent trajectory of growth in home sales. The prevailing momentum in mid-income and premium housing sales is expected to persist, whereas affordable and low-income housing, sensitive to interest rates, may experience a subdued pace. Responding to the inflationary environment, the central bank, through six successive increases since May 2022, had raised policy rates by a cumulative 250 basis points, taking the repo rate to 6.5% before hitting the pause in April. Following this, home loan rates are already hovering around 9% from a record low of 6.6% a year ago. “Both residential and commercial real estate markets may benefit from stable interest rates.