Pandemic Financial News

The Bank of Canada is holding its benchmark lending rate at five per cent, but warned that it was prepared to hike  rates again if necessary, adding a hawkish overtone — tinted with a “dovish undertone” — to its third consecutive hold.

By Pablo Mayo Cerqueiro, Emma-Victoria Farr and Amy-Jo Crowley

By Marc Jones

By Zaheer Kachwala

Most of Wall Street thinks inflation has been conquered. There is a lot at stake if they are wrong. Encouraging inflation data recently propelled a big rally across markets, with a traditional portfolio of stocks and bonds last month delivering one of its best returns of the past 30 years.

Stocks finished lower as risk-off seemed to be a theme yesterday, with oil prices slumping below $70. Oil has been a harbinger of all things these days, and the best thing that can happen with oil, at least over the next 6 to 12 months, is to do nothing. Rising oil could stoke more inflation while falling oil suggests global growth is a real concern. Oil above $70 and below $90 would be ideal, but unfortunately, that is not happening.

Reserve Bank of India’s rate-setting panel on December 6 commenced the fifth meeting this financial year. India’s relatively favourable macroeconomic indicators give the central bank even more confidence to chart its own path, even as it remains wary of worrying external factors. Retail inflation eased from a four-month-high in October at 4.87 per cent while India’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate trumped analyst expectations in Q2FY24 at 7.8 per cent. The Monetary Policy Committee’s priority is clear, as said by the RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das, inflation over growth and draining out excess liquidity from the system. To this extent, the RBI is expected to keep benchmark lending rates unchanged, for the fifth straight time. The MPC’s decisions have been in stark contrast to some advanced economies, who continue their fight to tame sticky price pressures. Moreover, MPC members have perhaps afforded doing so as it has enjoyed optimism on certain high-frequency indicators in the fastest growing major economy, while key global economies are sailing in rough seas.

Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Thursday said the number of air passengers has gone up from six crore in 2014 to 14.5 crore at present and added that airfares are competitive with the railway AC first class fares. The minister was asked about rising airfares during the Question Hour in the Lok Sabha. Scindia said that the civil aviation sector is a deregulated sector and despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and rising jet fuel cost, airfares have not increased in the same proportion.

Russian lawmakers on Thursday set the date of the country's 2024 presidential election for March 17, moving Vladimir Putin a step closer to a fifth term in office. Members of the Federation Council, Russia's upper house of parliament, voted unanimously to approve a decree setting the date. «In essence, this decision marks the start of the election campaign,» said Valentina Matviyenko, speaker of the Federation Council. Russia's central election commission is to hold a meeting on the presidential campaign on Friday.

BSE Sensex rising above 69,653 on Wednesday—is valid. Foreign institutional investors are back in action as buyers; their dithering in 2022 after yield gaps with safe US debt got squeezed now seems like old hat. An enlarged base of retail investors has held indices up, even as India’s economy has recovered from its covid contraction robustly enough to keep up a relatively pacy trajectory.

November’s auto sales figures are splendid. Over 2.85 million vehicles were sold last month, according to data released on Wednesday by the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations.

National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to digitise the country’s large utility bill payments market, is now increasingly being used for loan repayments and clearing credit card dues. The way utility bills get generated for consumers every month, EMI (equated monthly installment) gets generated every month on a specific date for borrowers. The customer can use any mode of payment to clear the EMI due, and this is where the BBPS platform is fast emerging as a popular tool.

ZestMoney's abrupt closure was primarily driven by its non-bank lending partners' decision to terminate credit lines to the fintech startup. Two people in the know said partner lenders to ZestMoney like Aditya Birla Finance had conducted multiple diligence meetings over the last six months with the startup’s new leadership, before they decided to pull the plug last week.

Gold as a hedge: Gold has historically demonstrated its resilience during times of economic uncertainty, often appreciating when other assets falter. Its value tends to hold steady, if not appreciate, during periods of economic uncertainty. The consistent depreciation of the dollar/rupee exchange rate has become a defining characteristic of the Indian financial landscape.

FOX Business correspondent Madison Alworth shares why for many first-time homebuyers, the American dream is delayed as a result of high mortgage rates and home prices on 'Varney and Co.'

Boris Johnson faced intense scrutiny over his handling of the early stages of the pandemic in an appearance before the Covid inquiry in London. Johnson insisted that he was not adequately warned about the severity of Covid-19 in early 2020, attributing the lack of urgency to a prevailing sense of complacency within the government. He expressed regret for mistakes made but argued that some errors were unavoidable given the prevailing mindset at the time.

Bengaluru Police have registered an FIR after obscene images interrupted the live streaming of the Karnataka High Court proceedings at a court hall on Monday. The CEN Police (cyber, economic & narcotic offences) registered the FIR under sections 67 & 67(A) of the Information Technology Act, 2000 on a complaint from the High Court administration. While Section 67 deals with punishment for publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form, Section 67A prescribes punishment for publishing or transmitting material containing sexually explicit acts, etc.

Credit card debt ballooned to a new record in the third quarter as a higher cost of living squeezes Canadians and causes more people to miss loan payments, including their mortgages.

India bond markets have witnessed quite a bit of volatility in the last few months. The yields on the 10-year government bonds fell from 7.45% to 7% and have risen back to 7.25-7.35% due to rise in US bond yields and crude prices

global aviation, industry group International Air Transport Association (IATA) said. Willie Walsh, director general of IATA said that due to investments made by the Indian government on airport infrastructure, the potential of growth from the Indian market has increased manifold. IATA counts more than 300 airlines as members. “I think India is the market for the future.

India’s personal computer market is projected to close 2023 as one of its dullest years, with shipments of 12-13 million units as against 14.8 million each in 2022 and 2021, according to estimates from International Data Corporation (IDC). Shipments of PCs including laptops were lower at 10.3 million units in 2020, when sales were disrupted by the pandemic.