Experts Financial News

United States soared past analyst expectations in July, according to government data released Thursday, helped by the autos segment and bringing some relief to policymakers. US consumption has remained resilient despite high interest rates, and experts are closely monitoring if this continues to hold up until the central bank begins rate cuts. A weaker than expected labor market report recently sparked market turmoil, over fears that the world's biggest economy was in worse health than anticipated.

interest rates. Their hope was rekindled after Federal Reserve Chairman Jeremy Powell indicated a reduction in the bank rates in September. Many people believe it may happen earlier and the Fed may convene an emergency meeting to take a decision aimed at saving the US economy from slipping into a recession. However, Ed Yardeni, the president of Yardeni Research and a longtime Wall Street veteran believes there may be only one cut in this financial year and it may be as little as 25 basis points.

Indian 3 will be a back story to the two released Kamal Haasan films, a prequel to Kannada hit Kantara is in the works. Jigarthanda DoubleX, a 2023 Tamil-language action drama, was a spiritual successor and prequel to Jigarthanda released in 2014. Trade experts say the trend tries to cash in on the formula of franchises that are a bigger draw after the pandemic than new and fresh stories.

Brides and florists are having sticker shock at the inflated prices of floral arrangements for weddings.

ADHD, which can impact her ability to concentrate. So, she turned to AI. The app Claude helps her decide which contracts made the most sense for her hygienic-wipes business, GetDirty, without having to read them word for word. She also created business plans by telling the generative AI bot what her goals were and having it create steps for her to get there. «It's been just massively instrumental. I probably would not be where I am today,» she said of using AI for about two years.

California bill that could impose restrictions on artificial intelligence has tech companies, investors and activists scrambling to explain what the first-of-its-kind legislation could mean for their industry in the state. The bill is still winding its way through the state capital in Sacramento. It is expected to reach the California state assembly appropriations committee on Thursday before facing a vote by the full assembly. If signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom, the bill would require companies to test the safety of powerful AI technologies before releasing them to the public. It would also allow California's attorney general to sue companies if their technologies cause serious harm, such as mass property damage or human casualties.

Google was found last week to have violated antitrust law by illegally maintaining a monopoly in internet search. Now discussions over how to fix those violations have begun. Justice Department officials are considering what remedies to ask a federal judge to order against the search giant, said three people with knowledge of the deliberations involving the agency and state attorneys general who helped to bring the case. They are discussing various proposals, including breaking off parts of Google, such as its Chrome browser or Android smartphone operating system, two of the people said. Other scenarios under consideration include forcing Google to make its data available to rivals, or mandating that it abandon deals that made its search engine the default option on devices like the iPhone, said the people, who declined to be identified because the process is confidential. The government is meeting with other companies and experts to discuss their proposals for limiting Google's power, the people said.

Cognizant Technology Solutions is said to have handed out annual salary hikes as low as 1% to some of its employees as the global technology services giant rolled out increments after deferring them by four months. The hikes are as low as 1% and the highest is said to be 5%, at least two people aware of the development told ET on the condition of anonymity. “For a rating of 3, the hike is around 1-3% while a 4 rating has been granted a 4% hike and a 5 rating to an employee is paid an increment of around 4.5% and at the most 5%,” one of the persons said.

CBI headed by an additional director on Wednesday launched an investigation into the alleged rape and murder of a doctor at a state-run hospital in West Bengal. The agency has taken custody of the primary suspect, according to officials. The CBI has also registered an FIR in New Delhi under multiple sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) related to the case, a source within the agency revealed.

SpiceJet on Wednesday reported a 20% per cent drop in consolidated profit for the April-June quarter, as a financial crunch took a toll on its operations. The carrier's profit came at Rs 158.75 crore in Q1 FY25 as against Rs 197.58 crore in the year-ago period.

wheat variety, Pusa Gehun Gaurav, has been developed in such a way that it can be used to make chapatis with better texture and also pasta, capable of satisfying desi as well as foreign palates. The Pusa Gehu Gaurav (HI 8840), was one of the 109 climate-resilient and bio-fortified varieties of crops dedicated to the nation recently by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Dr Jung Bahadur Singh, Head and Principal Scientist (Plant Breeding) of the Indore-based regional station of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), developed Pusa Gaurav. He said flour made from this wheat variety can absorb water better compared to Durum wheat, enabling softer chapatis.

NGT) has said that only the Centre can decide whether constructing a «strong» battalion infrastructure in a reserve forest area would impact the issue of conservation of forests. The green panel was hearing a plea alleging that Assam's forest department had illegally diverted 28 hectares of reserve forest for the establishment of the 2nd Assam Commando Battalion in the Assam-Nagaland interstate border area of Geleky Reserve Forest in Sibsagar district. It also alleged that unauthorised permission was granted by the then Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) M K Yadava, who «misused his power and position to divert a large part of the forest area» without taking consent from the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC). In an order passed on August 9, the eastern bench of the NGT comprising judicial member Justice Sheo Kumar Singh and expert member Arun Kumar Verma noted that an affidavit was filed by the present PCCF, stating the construction of the forest battalion was an «activity for forest conservation and management» and while undertaking it, no trees were felled.

union budget has widened the gap between PMS and MF in income tax terms, many suspect that HNI investors may be encouraged to tilt more towards mutual funds due to their tax-friendly nature. In the union budget announcement, there was an increase in capital gain tax. The short-term gains on specified financial assets was changed to 20% instead of the previous 15%. The long-term gains on all financial and non-financial assets was changed to 12.5% from 10% earlier. The difference in tax rate which earlier was 5% has been widened to 7.5% post budget announcement. “On taxes, PMS does poorly compared to MFs, which is a significant drawback. Unlike PMS, where taxes are applied even if investors do not liquidate but fund managers make changes to the portfolio, mutual funds only impose short-term or long-term capital gains on investors when they sell their units. With an average turnover ratio of 50% in PMS, there is an extra 1-2% tax obligation on total assets,” said Amar Ranu, Head-Investment Products & Insights, Anand Rathi Shares and Stock Brokers.

SpaceX is aiming to break new barriers in polar exploration with the first manned space mission over the Earth's poles — a private flight commanded by a crypto entrepreneur later this year, the company said Tuesday. The mission, dubbed «Fram2» after a 19th century polar expedition schooner, is due to last between three to five days, and was purchased by Chun Wang, a wealthy bitcoin pioneer who founded f2pool and stakefish, for an undisclosed amount. He will be joined by three polar experts: Norwegian filmmaker Jannicke Mikkelsen, German robotics researcher Rabea Rogge, and Australian polar adventurer Eric Philips.

Indian market is likely to trade higher on Wednesday tracking positive global cues. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold to the tune of Rs 2,107.17 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) brought to the tune of Rs 1,239.96 crore on Tuesday.

Buy or sell stocks for today: Domestic equity benchmarks Nifty 50 and Sensex dropped nearly one per cent in the previous session, dragged by a broad sell-off in banking, auto, and metal stocks. The frontline indices extended their losses to the third straight session on Tuesday amid ongoing foreign fund outflows and mixed global market trends. The 30-share BSE Sensex tumbled 692.89 points or 0.87 per cent to settle at 78,956.03.

inflation gauge declined below the mandated 4% target for the first time in five years, with economists attributing the fall to a statistical base effect and might not indicate a durable victory against sticky prices just yet. Most of the experts that ET spoke with said rate cuts could be pushed to the next fiscal year. In the recently concluded monetary policy review, central bank governor Shaktikanta Das maintained that future interest rate decisions will depend on food price movements and that it cannot overlook inflation pressures.

smartphone shipments in the April-June quarter. While IDC and Canalys say the market grew 3.2% and 1% year-on-year, respectively, Counterpoint Research and CMR estimate shipments to have declined 2% and 4%. All experts, though, say a muted consumer demand and rising average selling prices will continue to drag overall recovery of the market. Text by Subhrojit Mallick QUARTERLY HIGHLIGHTS (IDC)

If nothing else, former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris agree on one thing, at least: Both say they want to eliminate federal taxes on workers’ tips

More than 40 families of victims of an airliner crash in Brazil have gathered at a morgue and hotels in Sao Paulo as three French government investigators arrived in the country