President Financial News

Investing.com — The U.S. dollar edged higher in early European trade Wednesday, while sterling slumped as rapidly cooling inflation lifted expectations of Bank of England rate cuts next year.

Aon plc (NYSE:AON) has agreed to a deal to acquire NFP, a middle-market property and casualty broker, benefits consultant, wealth manager, and retirement plan advisor.

Investing.com -- Futures edge lower on Wednesday, suggesting a slight pullback on Wall Street following a surge in stocks in the prior session that was fueled by expectations for potential Federal Reserve interest rate cuts in early-2024. Elsewhere, FedEx shares dip premarket after the delivery giant slashes its annual revenue outlook, while Toyota (TYO:7203) (NYSE:TM) temporarily suspends shipments of its Daihatsu brand cars as a scandal over rigged safety tests deepens.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is caught in a controversy after he was seen recording a video on his phone of suspended TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee mimicking the actions of Rajya Sabha chairman, Jagdeep Dhankhar. «I am not commenting,» said Congress MP Rahul Gandhi.

Google will pay a penalty of $700 million and rework its Android Play Store policy to settle an antitrust lawsuit in the United States. While the deal was finalised in September, the final terms of the settlement were revealed on December 19, when documents were filed in San Francisco federal court.

Haven’t ordered any of your holiday gifts yet

Google has agreed to pay $700 million and make several other concessions to settle allegations that it had been stifling competition against its Android app store — the same issue that went to trial in another case that could result in even bigger changes

The Biden administration is moving to conserve old-growth forests on national forests and limit logging as climate change amplifies the threats they face from wildfires, insects and disease

Britain and France are reiterating their determination that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine must end in failure

In an unusual series of legal actions, Brazilian prosecutors have sued multinational meatpacker JBS and three smaller slaughterhouses for allegedly buying cattle directly from illegal ranches in a protected area

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he's certain the United States will make good on its promise of further billions of dollars for Kyiv to continue its fight against Russia

Authorities in a western Brazil state are taking aim at deforestation of the Amazon with a slew of lawsuits against slaughterhouses and farmers accused of illegally raising cattle in a protected area

Stocks in the U.S., Japan and Germany have risen 20% or more

Asian shares have mostly advanced after Wall Street ticked higher amid hopes that Japan's moves to keep interest rates easy for investors could augur similar trends in the rest of the world

Arvind Kejriwal have proposed Mallikarjun Kharghe's name for the PM's face of the INDIA bloc. "I have proposed Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge's name. Arvind Kejriwal supported my proposal," the West Bengal CM said in a statement.

Something has gone badly wrong in Africa. Sudan has collapsed into carnage, as two grasping warlords battle for control. Genocide has returned to Darfur: fighters loyal to one of those warlords are murdering every male they can find from one ethnic group, even shooting baby boys strapped to their mothers’ backs, as we report.

Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee for his mimicry of Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on the premises of the Parliament complex. Banerjee derisively mimicked Dhankhar during the opposition's protest on the stairs of Parliament on Tuesday against the suspension of MPs, drawing strong condemnation from the ruling BJP. Rahul Gandhi was seen making a video of the performance by Banerjee who appeared to mimic the way Dhankhar walked by leaning forward and made reference to having a spine.

ICRA expects the margin for tea estates based out of North India (NI) to be significantly impacted in FY2024 due to the double whammy of increase in cost of production, following the wage rate hikes in West Bengal and Assam and the drop in realisation due to the low export demand and a sluggish rural consumption. According to ICRA’s recent note on the sector, the operating profit margin (OPM) of NI-based bulk tea players is expected to be significantly impacted in FY2024 and, given the current operating environment in the tea industry, both domestic and international, any material improvement in profitability during FY2025 appears unlikely at present. The rating agency has thus revised the sector outlook to Negative from Stable. «The all-India auction prices of orthodox (ODX) tea in 10M CY2023 witnessed a significant decline of Rs.

multibagger returns of over 200% in the last 12 months, Indian Rail Finance Corporation (IRFC) shares have emerged from a fresh consolidation breakout and are set for another leg of rally in the short term. The stock has an estimated upside of 13% over the current levels. The over three-decade-old company is a dedicated financing arm of the Indian Railways for mobilising funds from domestic as well as overseas capital markets. On Tuesday, the stock hit a fresh 52-week high of Rs 101.50.

Narendra Modi on Wednesday dialed Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar and expressed pain over the mimicry incident. Dhankhar who is also Vice President of India, on the X platform wrote, "Received a telephone call from the Prime Minister, Shri @narendramodi Ji. He expressed great pain over the abject theatrics of some Honourable MPs and that too in the sacred Parliament complex yesterday".

Indian rupee inched up on Wednesday, supported by strength in some of its Asian peers, but gains on the local unit are likely to be limited on dollar buying interest from local oil companies and importers. The rupee was at 83.15 against the U.S. dollar as of 10:15 a.m.