President Financial News

Toll road group Atlas Arteria’s lucrative French motorway could be hit with a new annual tax of almost $200 million after the French government released its 2024 budget.

AFP, the incident occurred during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's visit, causing significant disruption in Canada, leading to the resignation of the parliament's speaker, and creating diplomatic tensions. "I would like to present unreserved apologies for what took place on Friday and to President Zelensky and the Ukrainian delegation for the position they were put in, for all of us who were present," Trudeau told lawmakers.

U.S. economic data and fresh comments from Federal Reserve officials. Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari was one among several Fed voices to caution markets on the possibility of more hikes, saying on Wednesday that ample evidence of ongoing economic strength meant that more tightening might be in the pipeline. Fed Chair Jerome Powell is scheduled to speak later on Thursday, giving markets further clues into the future path of U.S. monetary policy.

Treasury yields and uncertainty about the path ahead for interest rates. Investors were also attuned to developments in Washington as divisions among U.S. lawmakers put the federal government at risk of a partial shutdown by the weekend. A possible shutdown has added to worries for stock investors as they grapple with benchmark Treasury yields that have climbed to 16-year highs after the Federal Reserve last week signaled a hawkish long-term path for interest rates. At the same time, as the S&P 500 has sharply pared its year-to-date gain, some investors are wondering if the market is close to a bottom. «At some point people will start to buy stocks for the fourth quarter, and the third-quarter selling might be almost done,» said Peter Tuz, president of Chase Investment Counsel. «At a certain level, people are going to get back in thinking the fourth quarter might be a pretty good one.» The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 68.61 points, or 0.2%, to 33,550.27, the S&P 500 gained 0.98 points, or 0.02%, at 4,274.51 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 29.24 points, or 0.22%, to 13,092.85. During the session, the S&P 500 rose as much as 0.4% and fell as much as 0.8% before paring losses. Among S&P 500 sectors, the rate-sensitive utilities group fell most, dropping 1.9%.

Oil prices rose in early Asian trade on Thursday after surging to the highest settlement in 2023 in the previous session as a steep drop in U.S. crude stocks added to worries of tight global supplies. Brent crude futures climbed 16 cents to $96.71 a barrel by 0001 GMT.

Justin Trudeau apologised Wednesday for Parliament's recognition of a man who fought alongside the Nazis during last week's address by Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trudeau said the speaker of the House of Commons, who resigned Tuesday, was «solely responsible» for the invitation and recognition of the man but said it was a mistake that has deeply embarrassed Parliament and Canada.

FMCG companies to push demand have distributors in a tizzy as they struggle for shelf space to manage inventory, prompting them to reach out to the government to restrict the number of pack sizes to four. Packaged products companies have hit back saying that is not feasible as consumer and channel requirements are differentiated. New smaller packs are «placing extra burden on retailers as they have to keep on adding new packs, leading to inventory management challenges, and impacting distribution efficiency,» said Dhairyashil Patil, national president of All India Consumer Products Distributors Federation (AICPDF). The federation, which represents more than 400,000 distributors and stockists, has written to the government suggesting there should only be four pack sizes — entry, small, medium, and large. Nestle, Hindustan Unilever, Britannia, Parle Products, Dabur, ITC and Coca-Cola are among many others that have launched multiple low-priced packs across noodles, toothpaste, soaps, soft drinks and biscuits as a strategy to counter the consumption slowdown due to inflation. They are also using smaller packs to fight off increased competition from regional brands. Products at the entry level are being packaged in multiple price points of Rs 5, Rs 7, Rs 10, Rs 14, Rs 15 and Rs 20, unlike earlier fixed pack prices such as Rs 5, 10 and 20. Nestle's entry-level Maggi noodles is now available in packs of Rs 7, 10 and 14, in addition to multiple large packs. «New pack sizes are introduced by companies on the basis of consumer convenience, pricing and need for smaller packs.

Buy or sell stocks for today: After recovering from early morning sell off, Indian stock market ended higher on Wednesday. Nifty 50 index finished 51 points higher at 19,716 levels whereas BSE Sensex gained 173 points and closed at 66,118 mark.

By Sam Nussey

Donald Trump's Republican competitors will take place. All participants aim to seize a defining moment that might shift the course of the primary race, which currently heavily favours the former president. As reported by Reuters, the debate, hosted at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute in Simi Valley, California, will feature seven Republican candidates.

Russia has accused Ukraine’s Western allies of helping plan and conduct last week’s missile strike on the Black Sea Fleet’s headquarters in Crimea

Cetera Financial Holdings senior management is planning a webinar Thursday afternoon with Avantax Inc.’s financial advisors to discuss questions raised by some of the 3,100 advisors in the wake of Cetera’s announcement earlier this month that it’s buying the tax-specialized broker-dealer for $1.2 billion.

Shai Reshef, president and founder of the online, tuition-free University of the People, and Arizona State University professor and researcher Michelene Chi, who has developed a framework to improve how students learn, are the 2023 winners of The Yidan...

Officials say the Amazon rainforest in Brazil is facing a severe drought that may affect around 500,000 people by the end of the year

CBS Sports Chairman Sean McManus has known for over a year when he planned to retire and who would be his successor

President Joe Biden has vetoed Republican-sponsored bills intended to undo federal protections for two endangered species that have seen their populations plummet over the years

China's government has accused Taiwan’s ruling party of seeking independence, a day after the self-governing island’s president lobbied for Australia’s support in joining a regional trade pact

A senior Qatar Airways executive has told an Australian Senate inquiry that there will be no repeat of an incident at Doha’s international airport in 2020 in which female passengers were subjected to invasive gynecological examinations

The United Auto Workers union says it will announce on Friday how it plans to expand its strike against Detroit’s three automakers

Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu challenging the Andhra Pradesh high court order dismissing his petition for quashing the first information report (FIR) against him in the alleged multi-crore Skill Development Corporation scam. After the recusal, Naidu's lawyer, senior advocate Siddharth Luthra mentioned the plea before a bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud which refused to restrain the trial court from hearing a plea filed by Andhra Pradesh Crime Investigation Department (CID) seeking police custody of Naidu. Naidu's plea will come up for hearing on October 3.

Apple Apple Inc.'s lucrative agreement to use Alphabet Inc.'s Google as the default search engine for the iPhone includes a provision that the two tech giants will “support and defend” the deal against government scrutiny, a top Apple executive said at an antitrust trial. Their long time contract was renegotiated in 2016 to include the provision, Apple's Senior Vice President of Services Eddy Cue disclosed Tuesday in a Washington federal court, where the US government is pressing its claim that Google operates a monopoly in the search business. Cue, the architect of the most recent version of the agreement, said the provision for a joint defence was added at Google's request. He said it was handled by company lawyers so he couldn't speak directly to why it was included.