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(Reuters) — Societe Generale (OTC:SCGLY) is preparing to cut hundreds of jobs in its home market as part of Chief Executive Officer Slawomir Krupa's effort to rein in costs, Bloomberg News reported on Friday.

UBS said in a note Friday that, in their view, S&P 500 valuations are full, and stocks will likely consolidate.

PCBL (formerly Phillips Carbon Black), a leading manufacturer of carbon black, have been on a strong upward trend since April 2020, rewarding their shareholders handsomely. Over this period, the shares have surged from ₹32 apiece to the current price of ₹310, delivering an impressive return of nearly 700%. In CY23, the company's shares witnessed a notable gain of 94%, attributed to the robust performance of the core carbon black business and the strategic entry into the high-growth specialty chemical sector.

Stifel analysts upgraded shares of DraftKings (NASDAQ:DKNG) to Buy from Hold, raising the price target to $45 from $40 per share in a note Friday, saying the company has a compelling 2024 set-up.

Jefferies downgraded Hertz (HTZ) to a Hold rating (From Buy) and cut their 12-month price target to $8.00 (From $12.00) as they believe EV repair issues, higher opex and DPU may limit the rental car company’s near-term profitability.

Citi lifted its Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) target price to $151 from $90 per share in a note Friday, maintaining a Neutral rating on the stock.

Indian women's hockey team failed to qualify for the Paris Olympics after going down 0-1 to Japan in the third-fourth place match of the FIH Olympic Qualifier here on Friday. Kana Urata scored for Japan off a penalty corner in the first quarter and they kept the lead intact till the end of the match while Indians failed to find the target.

State-run oil companies made a capital spending of Rs 89,000 crore in the first nine months of the current fiscal year as they enhanced new production and distribution facilities. The spending is about 84% of their combined capex target of Rs 106,000 crore for the current fiscal year, according to the oil ministry data. Indian Oil Corp, the nation’s top refiner and fossil fuel retailer, has been the biggest spender among state oil companies this year.

Iran's strikes this week in Pakistan, Iraq and Syria have brought back into the spotlight its ballistic missile programme, which has ground forward over the past 40 years despite sanctions. On Tuesday, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps hit what it called «a spy headquarters» in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region and «terrorist» targets in Syria. Its forces also fired on «an Iranian terrorist group» in Pakistan, which said the attack killed two children and riposted with a strike on Iranian territory that Tehran said claimed nine lives. Iran's missile capabilities are one reason why Western attention remains fixated on this regional power, as the Islamic republic and its proxies step up attacks in the Middle East in solidarity with Gaza's Hamas militants in their war with Israel. — Range and accuracy - The massive Iranian missile armoury covers ranges from short (300 kilometres or 186 miles) to medium (300-1,000 kilometres) and long (up to 2,000 kilometres). A majority are produced or assembled locally thanks to Iran's advanced industries and university sector. «Hardly a year goes by without an Iranian announcement about the development of a new type of ballistic or cruise missiles,» said Eva Koulouriotis, an independent expert. Tehran has gradually advanced into solid-propellant missiles — which are «easier to store and much quicker to bring into action than liquid-fuel ones, so they are much more useful tactically,» said Jeremy Binnie of British private intelligence firm Janes. «The Iranians have taken Scud technology from the 300 kilometres of the missiles they received in the 1980s to 1,600 kilometres or more,» he added, as well as developing «much better guidance systems… enabling them to carry out

Greenwood Capital President and CIO Walter Todd joined ‘Mornings with Maria’ to discuss the state of the U.S. economy and mortgage rates as housing inflation continues to rise. 

President Joe Biden is forgiving nearly $5 billion in additional student debt as the administration seeks to deliver on one of his signature initiatives with high stakes for his 2024 re-election campaign.

Also Read- Budget 2024 expectations: GJEPC advocates import duty cuts, licensing reforms for gems & jewellery sector BofA Securities said that between April and November in FY24, India used up 50.7% of the full-year budgeted fiscal deficit target, which compares well versus the median 75.9% of the total that gets exhausted during April and November usually BofA Securities said that even as total expenditure continued to trace the median run rate, the outperformance was led by higher than median revenue receipts. They see higher than budgeted tax and non-tax revenue to more than offset- the potential shortfall in divestment proceeds, higher than budgeted subsidy bill, modestly higher interest expense and other revenue expenditure. BofA said that the concerns surrounding fiscal slippage in an election year are understandable.

In recent weeks, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) stock has faced challenges, which has yielded a 2% year-to-date underperformance compared to the S&P500's 0.2% decline. Concerns surrounding China demand, watch bans, and regulatory risks have contributed to this dip.

Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) Vikram lander on the lunar surface, NASA said in a press release. The ISRO said on Friday that an instrument on the Chandrayaan-3 lander has started serving as a location marker near the lunar south pole.

around 11 percent over the past two days on the back of disappointing December quarter (Q3FY24) results. Broader market optimism as well as global brokerage house CLSA's positive outlook led to the recovery. The stock rose around 2 percent to its intra-day high of ₹1,486.80.

By Mike Dolan

(Reuters) — China has instructed heavily indebted local governments to delay or halt some state-funded infrastructure projects, three people with knowledge of the situation said, as Beijing struggles to contain debt risks even as it tries to stimulate the economy.

fiscal deficit to 5.3 per cent of India's gross domestic product in the upcoming budget for FY25 despite poll pressure, a foreign brokerage said on Friday. The government will meet the FY24 commitment to reduce the important number to 5.9 per cent, BofA Securities said in a note. «We see Centre's fiscal deficit to consolidate further to 5.3 per cent of GDP, despite poll pressure,» its analysts wrote in a note. The government will opt for continuing with its strategy of consolidating fiscal deficit through capital expenditure driven growth instead of expenditure compression, it said. The brokerage said digitization-led formalization has aided the fiscal math through tax buoyancy on one side and reducing wasteful expenditure (subsidy leakage) on the other.

interim Budget, says BofA Securities. “The current government’s intent is to consolidate the fiscal deficit through capital expenditure-driven growth instead of expenditure compression. We expect this strategy to continue in FY25 union budget as well,” the global brokerage firm said. The brokerage also expects the Centre to meet its fiscal deficit target of 5.9% of GDP in FY24. Between April and November of the current fiscal year, the government used up 50.7% of the budgeted fiscal deficit target for the full year, which is quite less than the median 75.9% of the total that usually gets exhausted in this period, BofA pointed out.

Abhay Bhutada, MD, Poonawalla Fincorp, says “in the last eight quarters, there is a consistent performance in terms of disbursement as well as AUM growth. The most important thing here is that the base is very low. It is easy to achieve this number. And we have given a guidance of 35-40%. Considering the current base, I think in the future, we will stick to our guidance of 35-40%. The focus will be on to achieve the asset quality, maintaining superior profitability and at the same time maintain this 35 to 40% AUM growth. The one thing that struck the most was your highest ever quarterly disbursement figure, highest ever profit, lowest NPA and GNPAs. Before getting into details, what were the drivers for this kind of growth especially at a time when some are saying that the environment is showing some slowdown in the lending space? Abhay Bhutada: See, this is the outcome of efforts of the last 2.5 years. Post-acquisition, we have clearly articulated our strategy. Our chosen segment is pre-owned car, loan against property, personal loan, business loan, supply chain finance, machinery loan, medical equipment loan, consumer finance. The segment which we are targeting is a very different kind of segment. It is a combination of FinTech, bank, and NBFC.

India-Canada Row: India’s High Commissioner to Ottawa Sanjay Kumar Verma has said that Delhi could assist in investigating the links to gangs operating in Canada, and conducting extortion targeting Indo-Canadians. However, the envoy set a ride – “if there is a formal request from Ottawa along with evidence".