Economy Financial News

The United Auto Workers’ tentative deals with Detroit automakers mark the latest union victory in a year of multiplying strikes and sizable gains in a robust labor market. The agreements could embolden other unions to take aggressive approaches to contract negotiations and fuel more strikes in coming months—as long as the economy stays strong.

GEORGETOWN, Guyana—New supermarkets here are stocked with prime Texas rib-eyes. A recently opened waterfront hotel offers executive suites for $750 per night. The national cricket team, the Amazon Warriors, is getting a new stadium that begins construction next spring.

We don’t support this browser anymore. This means our website may not look and work as you would expect. Read more about browsers and how to update them here.

US Fed policy outcome: 6 key things that will be in the Fed's mind before making a rate decision today (Exciting news! Mint is now on WhatsApp Channels. Subscribe today and stay updated with the latest financial insights! Click here!) Barring a few, experts do not expect the Fed to surprise the market by raising or cutting rates as the US economy remains strong and inflation remains above the Fed's 2 per cent target.

₹1,000 crore ($120 million) for its open-ended fund to invest in Indian equities. Kotak Iconic Fund, a category-III alternative investment fund (AIF), invests in equities with varied market capitalisation through diversified active and passive strategies. “The journey to ₹1,000 crore in AUM (assets under management) has been marked by unwavering dedication, resilience, and the trust of investors who have chosen Kotak Iconic as their preferred investment vehicle in the Indian equities space," said Lakshmi Iyer, chief executive officer, investments and strategy, Kotak Alternate Asset Managers.

India's maiden sale of ultra-long bonds this week will lower borrowing costs for the government as large insurance and pension funds are expected to scoop up the issue, fund managers and analysts said. With the sale of 100 billion rupees ($1.2 billion) of a 50-year bond on Friday, Asia's third-largest economy will join a handful of countries that actively issue such papers, as per LSEG data. Two more tranches will be sold by the end of March. The bonds are likely to be sold at a yield that will only be one-to-two basis points higher than the yield on the 40-year paper, according to Aneesh Srivastava, executive director and chief investment officer at Star Health Insurance. A 40-year bond that matures in 2063 is currently the longest-duration bond sold by India. On Wednesday, the 40-year bond was bid at 7.53% while a 30-year note was dealt at 7.52%. «There should be strong demand for this paper especially from insurance companies, as it is a classic investor stock,» said Vikas Goel, managing director at PNB Gilts. Insurers and pension funds' government debt purchases have risen over the last few years because of strong demand for their products. Bond purchases by the so-called 'others' category — consisting primarily of insurers and pension funds — have risen to 1.39 trillion rupees this year from 1.10 trillion rupees in 2022, clearing house data shows. «There are some insurance products that require an additional 10 year of duration, mainly due to the nature of ALM (asset liability management) gaps,» Churchil Bhatt, executive vice president at Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance, said. Strong demand at the 50-year sale will result in the yield curve remaining flat, while elongating the maturity of the government's

Sunil D'Souza, MD & CEO, Tata Consumer, says “cash flow conversion is up 100 bps and we remain on track to deliver 95% to 100% of EBITDA to cash for the full year. As for ROC, which you have kept mentioning as our bugbear, is up by 210 bps, hopefully that trajectory continues even on the strategic front and that is the key to delivering good numbers, staying focussed on the strategic pieces, staying focussed on the basics and executing them well. ” These numbers are good, solid and they deserve a table thumping applaud. It is a rarity when we say that FMCG companies are beating estimates. How have you managed to beat the peers and analyst estimates? We have delivered a decent set of numbers. Just to highlight, topline was up 11%, EBITDA was up 30%. Group net profit was minus 7% but if I offset the one-time land sale that was there last year, net of exceptionals, we are up by 24%. EBITDA is up 220 bps. We are seeing volume growth across all the businesses. Growth businesses in India are firing at 40, international is up 13%. Gross margins across all businesses more or less where they should be, bar the US where we have got a little bit of work to do.

For the first time in nearly two years, the Federal Reserve is set Wednesday to keep its key short-term interest rate unchanged for a second straight policy meeting — the clearest sign to date that the Fed is edging closer to the end of its rate-hiking...

The inflation that has been wearing on European consumers fell sharply to 2.9% in October, its lowest in more than two years as fuel prices fell and rapid interest rate hikes from the European Central Bank took hold

The Federal Reserve is poised to leave its key interest rate unchanged at a time when the Fed faces an economy that has proved resilient but is nevertheless under pressure from surging interest rates, overseas turmoil and anxious investors

Just last month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu predicted a new era of peace and prosperity in the Middle East, based on growing acceptance of Israel within the region

Toyota will invest an additional $8 billion in the hybrid and electric vehicle battery factory it’s constructing in North Carolina

Asian shares are mostly higher after Wall Street advanced to claim back some of the ground it gave up in another losing month

American consumers are feeling increasingly less confident these days as fears of an oncoming recession remain elevated

An official survey of manufacturers shows China’s factory activity contracted in October, suggesting the economy remains on uneven footing

Westpac’s brand-new business banking boss Anthony Miller says the fate of many struggling small firms will hinge on the Christmas and new year trading period when consumers will absorb further potential tightening from the Reserve Bank next week.

Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), compiled by S&P Global, declined to an eight-month low of 55.5 in October, down from 57.5 in September, Reuters reported. This unexpected drop contradicted expectations of a rise to 57.7, as per an earlier Reuters poll. However, despite the slowdown, this marked the 28th consecutive month that the PMI remained above the 50-mark, which separates expansion from contraction.

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd (M&M), the automobile major, on Wednesday reported total auto sales for the month of October 2023 at 80,679 vehicles, a growth of 32% from 61,114 units in the same month last year. M&M’s domestic passenger vehicle (PV) sales in October 2023 rose 35% to 43,708 units from 32,298 units in October 2022.

India has no option other than to grow at 10% to catch up with the scale of China, India’s G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant on Thursday said that the Indian economy is poised to be a $5-trillion economy. “This is India’s moment. We can go on to be the seventh-largest economy in the world.

Larsen & Toubro (L&T) share price gained over a percent on Wednesday after the company reported healthy financial performance for the quarter ended September 2023. L&T shares rose as much as 1.85% to ₹2,983.05 apiece on the BSE.

Southeast Asia's internet economy is expected to grow 11% year-on-year in 2023, slowing from last year's 20% growth, an industry report showed on Wednesday. The annual report published jointly by Alphabet's Google, Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings and global business consultants Bain & Company, also said the region's internet economy is seen worth $295 billion by 2025, down from a previous estimate of $330 billion.