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US hiring rose much more than expected last month, according to government data published Friday, keeping up the pressure on the Federal Reserve as it weighs when to start cutting interest rates. The world's largest economy added 303,000 jobs in March, up from a revised 270,000 new jobs created a month earlier, the Department of Labor announced.

The Bahnsen Group CIO David Bahnsen previews Fed Chair Jay Powell’s testimony before Congress and shares his expectations for upcoming job data.

NEW DELHI : ZEE Entertainment Enterprises Ltd will lay off an estimated 15% of its staff as managing director and chief Punit Goenka moves to implement a leaner and more streamlined management structure, aimed at reducing costs and achieving the company's targeted objectives. The move will impact an estimated 500 people. The company said on Friday that a proposed new structure, presented to the Board, seeks to establish a cost-efficient operational model.

RBI reports that for Q1FY25, services sector companies and infrastructure firms expect higher input costs. While services sector firms expect selling prices to rise, the same is not expected by the infrastructure firms. In PMI surveys, manufacturing firms indicated a rise in input prices, but do not expect output prices to rise.

The Brooklyn District Attorney’s office has seized 21 web domains associated with fraudulent cryptocurrency investments and “pig butchering” scams. 

South Korean crypto voice phishing attackers are developing more sophisticated ways to dupe victims out of cash and tokens, a report claimed on April 4.

Indian Army has initiated the induction of control and reporting systems under 'Project Akashteer' to bolster its air defense capabilities. This project aims to deliver an unprecedented level of situational awareness and control for the force to ensure the safety of friendly aircraft and engage hostile aircraft in contested airspace. The deployment of 'Akashteer' began with the flagging off of the first batch of control centers from BEL-Ghaziabad. Developed by Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) as part of the 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' initiative, this project is poised to significantly enhance the operational efficiency and integration of the Army's air defense mechanisms. 'Project Akashteer' is a cutting-edge initiative designed to automate air defense control and reporting processes by digitizing them. By integrating radar and communication systems at all levels into a unified network, 'Akashteer' aims to deliver an unprecedented level of situational awareness and control.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) will play each other on April 6 at Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. RCB will play their fifth match of the IPL 2024, while this will be RR's fourth match overall. In their opening game on March 24, RR defeated Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) by a score of 20 runs. On March 28, they defeated Delhi Capitals (DC) by a margin of 12 runs. Rajasthan also triumphed over the Mumbai Indians (MI). They won by six wickets against Hardik Pandya's squad on April 1. With the exception of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), only RR has won its opening three games. On March 22, RCB lost to Chennai Super Kings by a margin of six wickets. On March 25, they defeated the Punjab Kings (PBKS) by a margin of four wickets. On March 29, they then suffered a 7-wicket loss to KKR. They also suffered a defeat in their fourth game, this time against the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). Bengaluru suffered a 28-run defeat on April 2.

drones to destroy at least six military aircraft and badly damage eight others at an airfield in Russia's Rostov region, while Russian defense officials claimed they intercepted 44 Ukrainian drones and that only a power substation was damaged in the attack. The assault appeared to be one of Kyiv's biggest air attacks in the war, coming as its forces step up their assaults on Russian soil. The Associated Press could not independently verify either side's claims. Russia has escalated attacks on civilian infrastructure, including Ukraine's power plants, in recent weeks, signaling a new and potentially dangerous phase in the conflict as both sides struggle to achieve significant advances on the ground.

drone attack overnight damaged equipment at energy facilities in Ukraine's southern Odesa region, the national grid company Ukrenergo said on Friday via the Telegram messaging app. Separately, the Ukrainian military said its air defence had shot down four drones used overnight in attacks targeting the region's energy infrastructure. Ukraine's air force said it also shot down nine Russian drones overnight targeting the Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions. Russia also used two S-300/S-400 missiles and three Iskander-M ballistic missiles in its attack, it said.

Ukraine fired dozens of drones at Russia's southern Rostov region, home to its army headquarters for the military offensive, in the early hours of Friday, Russian officials said. Russia's defence ministry said it downed 53 Ukrainian drones overnight — 44 over the Rostov region — while the governor said a power station was damaged in the attack. Rostov-on-Don, the capital of the region that sits just across the border from Ukraine, is the command headquarters for Russia's military campaign and home to a swathe of Russian military sites.

Norway plans to raise its military spending by an accumulated 600 billion crowns ($56 billion) through 2036 to bolster its defence against Russia and other security challenges, the NATO member country's government said on Friday. Overall military spending for the next 12 years is expected to amount to 1.62 trillion crowns, it said. «This plan represents a historic boost in defence spending, and involves a significant strengthening of all branches of the armed forces,» Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere told a press conference.

Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) transaction volumes have gone down after crossing 10 lakh in late-December 2023, Reserve Bank of India Governor T Rabi Sankar said on Friday. The overall number of transactions has touched 2.2 crore since the launch of the CBDC pilot on December 1, 2022, Sankar said, adding that the number of participants in the pilot stands at 50 lakh. «Volumes have not been the same, they have come down,» Sankar said, adding that the target of 10 lakh a day was met earlier on the back of measures such as interoperability with a very popular UPI platform. As per a news report, banks disbursed employee benefits using the digital rupee in December, which helped the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) meet its target of 10 lakh daily transactions.

The Vontobel Fund II — Fixed Maturity Emerging Markets Bond 2 invests mainly in emerging market bonds in hard currencies and aims to offer a higher spread, yield and coupon relative to comparable bonds in developed markets. It also focuses on optimising the level of spread in short-maturity emerging market bonds. LGIM expands global high yield range with trio of regional funds With a fixed maturity of three years, the Luxembourg-domiciled fund targets an average investment grade rating and a target yield maturity of 7%, depending on market evolution. The seeding period for the f...

Israel said Friday it was targeting a "Hamas gunman" when it killed in Gaza seven aid workers whose deaths caused an international outcry, with its military admitting a series of «grave mistakes» and violations of its own rules of engagement. The victims — an Australian, Britons, a North American, a Palestinian and a Pole — were killed in three air strikes over four minutes by an Israeli drone as they ran for their lives between their three vehicles, the military said. The drone team who killed them made an «operational misjudgement of the situation» after spotting a suspected Hamas gunman shooting from the top of one of the aid trucks they were escorting, an internal Israeli military inquiry found.

The BSE benchmark Sensex rose 20 points or 0.03% to settle at 74,248. The NSE Nifty gained 11 points or 0.05% to end at 22,525.

Read RBI Monetary Policy 2024 LIVE Updates here Under these circumstances, monetary policy must continue to be actively disinflationary to ensure anchoring of inflation expectations and fuller transmission of the past actions, he added. Economists believe that the RBI now seems to remain more confident of growth conditions than that with inflation trajectory.

Shaily Engineering Plastics, the country's leading exporter of high-precision engineered plastic products and components, has delivered substantial returns to its shareholders. The company's share price has surged from ₹226 apiece a year ago to the current trading price of ₹542, marking a remarkable gain of 140%. Since hitting its low of ₹191 in May 2023, the stock has witnessed an impressive appreciation, currently trading with a gain of 184%.

Shaktikanta Das on Friday proposed to permit 3rd party UPI apps to make payments and cash deposits at Cash Deposit Machines (CDMs) using UPI (Unified Payments Interface). Addressing the RBI MPC meet 2024 today, Das said, “Deposit of cash through CDMs is primarily being done through debit cards. Given the experience gained from cardless cash withdrawal through the UPI at the ATMs, it is now proposed to facilitate the deposit of cash in CDMs using UPI." “This will enhance customer convenience, and make the currency-handling process at banks more efficient," the RBI Governor added.

RBI monetary policy 2024: In its first bi-monthly committee meeting for FY24–25, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) maintained the real GDP growth forecast for the current fiscal year at 7%. The GDP growth target for Q1 FY25 was adjusted to 7.1% from the previous 7.2%, while for Q2 FY25, it was revised to 6.9%, up from the previous forecast of 6.8%. The growth rate for Q3 FY24 remains unchanged at 7% from previous forecasts.

Shaktikanta Das on Friday called inflation the elephant in the room and said that the animal seems to be returning to the forest, hinting at inflation reaching the favourable target of 4 per cent. The governor said, «The elephant in the room was CPI inflation. The elephant has now gone out for a walk and appears to be returning to forest.» The remark from the governor came while he was announcing the decisions of the first bimonthly Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting of FY25.