Updates Financial News

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.NEW DELHI: Apple on Monday named John Ternus, its vice-president of hardware engineering, as its next chief executive, succeeding Tim Cook. The transition was expected for later this year, but its timing—and Apple’s choice of a hardware leader—comes as artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping Big Tech.The move signals Apple’s bet that tightly integrated devices will remain central to its strategy, even as rivals push ahead in AI.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Throughout the war in Iran most investors have bet that an economic catastrophe would not take place. Oil and gas prices would need to rise to the stratosphere to destroy demand for the fuel that flows through the Strait of Hormuz. That would cause recession and high inflation.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Velmurugan J., a hospitality sector executive from Kulithalai town near Karur, considers himself lucky. He decided to attend actor Joseph Vijay’s political rally in Karur on 27 September last year, urged on by his colleague who was a die-hard fan of the star.By noon, they reached Velusamypuram, the venue of the meeting on the Karur-Erode highway, and took a vantage position near a generator shed. The crowd was swelling and the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) leader’s arrival was delayed.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Amazon is investing $5 billion more into the AI startup Anthropic and up to $20 billion longer-term.An expanded agreement includes a pledge by Anthropic to spend more than $100 billion over the next 10 years on Amazon’s AWS artificial intelligence technologies.The agreement includes current and future generations of Amazon’s custom Trainium chips and tens of millions of Graviton CPU chips, and up to 5 gigawatts of capacity to train and power its advanced AI models.The two companies also announced a meaningful expansion of international inference in Asia and Europe to better serve Claude’s growing international customer base.Amazon’s additional investment comes on top of the $8 billion Amazon previously invested in Anthropic.Amazon’s shares were up 2.6% to $254.80 after the bell. Amazon’s stock is up 7.6% year to date through Monday’s close, and 43% over the past 12 months.Write to Janet H.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Wall Street’s favorite new way of making money is selling sophisticated investing strategies to Main Street.JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and other banks are competing to sell programs that systematically execute trades based on preset rules. Hedge funds and others have long deployed such quant-trading strategies, but now pension funds, endowments, family offices and others are embracing them.Asset managers are also seeing a surge in interest in the strategies from wealthy investors.Fueling interest in these trading products, which banks call quantitative investment strategies, or QIS: fear that traditional investment approaches can’t keep up in the age of artificial intelligence.“The speed of the market is increasing, and we don’t have conviction about managers who mainly rely on fundamental analysis,” says Elmer Huh, chief investment officer of the Murdock Trust, a foundation in the Pacific Northwest.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Companies are resorting to staggered price hikes to combat rising input cost inflation and protect margins. The impact of these increases is likely to reflect in June quarter (Q1FY27) earnings, but further hikes cannot be ruled out—especially if crude oil prices remain elevated.The West Asia war has triggered a spike in crude oil prices and LPG shortages.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Mumbai: A clutch of private equity firms including Multiples Private Equity, Warburg Pincus, KKR and Kedaara Capital are evaluating a stake in jewellery brand Giva in an $80-100 million deal, three people familiar with the matter told Mint.“The company is expected to see an uptick in its valuation and is seeking a little over ₹6,000 crore for this round,” the first of the three persons cited earlier said, all of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity. The second person said the round is largely primary (about 75%) with a small secondary component that is likely to see early investors like A91 Partners and Sixth Sense Ventures exit their stake in part or full as the structures are still being decided.“The company plans to use the funds towards expansion plans including opening new stores, expanding inventory lines and manufacturing capabilities.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is again fighting for his political life this week, thanks to a scandal that’s becoming emblematic of Britain’s national dysfunction. Mr. Starmer’s woes boil down to a crisis of incompetence.Ostensibly the scandal concerns the vetting of a high-profile appointee—the long tail of the release in the U.S.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The Securities and Exchange Board of India's (Sebi’s) measures to cool the retail frenzy in options trading appear to have begun yielding results, with small-trader participation declining almost 20% in FY26 from the previous year.Equity options, which comprise index and stock options, are the most widely traded derivative products within the futures and options (F&O) segment. The fall in participation is thus a clear outcome of Sebi’s measures, experts said.According to NSE data, the number of investors trading less than ₹10,000 each on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) fell by two-fifths to 450,000 in FY26, from 780,000 in FY25, according to data from the stock exchange.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has recently updated its economic data for member countries, as part of the health check it conducts on the global economy twice every year. One number buried in the latest World Economic Outlook database is worth pulling out: India’s current account deficit.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The Mac Mini was sorely in need of an update, and John Ternus hoped he didn’t need to go through design guru Jony Ive.Years ago, before Ternus was tapped to take the helm of one of the world’s biggest and most influential companies, he led Apple’s Mac hardware division. It was one of many stops as he rose through the ranks of the insular company and learned to navigate its curious internal politics.The AI revolution that would make the Mac Mini hugely popular was still years away, yet software developers needed a new version with updated chips.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Tiger Global-backed Infra.Market’s founders are taking on personal debt through their promoter entity, Silverline Homes Pvt Ltd, to inject fresh capital into the company, as market volatility clouds its valuation and delays its planned initial public offering (IPO), three people aware of the matter told Mint.“As things stand, the promoters are injecting more cash into Infra.Market through Silverline by taking on personal debt,” one of the persons said on the condition of anonymity. “They are also asking existing investors to participate in this equity raise as the much-needed IPO liquidity is still quite far away.”The promoter-backed infusion underscores the pressure building across India’s pre-IPO cohort.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.In a world marked by persistent turbulence, the character of globalization is undergoing a decisive shift. Supply chains, once celebrated as instruments of efficiency, are now being used as tools of strategic leverage. Energy markets are volatile, shipping routes face disruptions and critical technologies are being subject to export controls.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.MUMBAI: India’s consumer demand is showing clear signs of softening, with inflation pressures amid volatile crude oil prices and a weak monsoon outlook beginning to weigh on spending across categories. While the slowdown is not uniform, the underlying direction is increasingly evident in sentiment and early consumption data from the March quarter (Q4FY26).The weakness is most visible in a widening split across income groups.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.In equity markets, an acid test of new investors is how they respond when a crisis hits and the market crumbles. Do they rush for the door? Or, do they affirm their intention to be there for the long term? A mild form of that acid test roiled Indian markets, along with global ones, in March. The benchmark equity index, BSE Sensex, tumbled 11% that month alone.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Wall Street and Washington will be watching Kevin Warsh on Tuesday for any sign he has an understanding with President Trump to cut interest rates if installed as chair of the Federal Reserve. Trump will be watching for any sign he doesn’t.The high-wire act starts before Warsh even has the job.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The sudden twists in West Asia peace talks underscore just how fluid the situation is. On Friday, Iran showed some keenness to engage with the US as it declared the Strait of Hormuz open, but only to slam it shut again the next day.Since then, Tehran has professed itself unready to hold truce talks with the US. Not only was America making excessive and shifting demands, it argued, its blockade of Iranian ports was a violation of the ceasefire due to expire only on 22 April.To make matters between the two adversaries worse, this week began with armed US action against an Iranian commercial vessel.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.India needs to rethink its power storage options in the light of an energy shock that has exposed the fragility of global supply chains. Since geopolitical conflict and wobbly rules of international engagement are unlikely to relieve us of trade clamps being used as weapons, we must adjust our cost and security calculus accordingly. At particular risk are battery electric storage systems (BESS) that are now increasingly favoured by renewable energy (RE) producers for grid-scale storage.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.KKR & Co-backed Kota-based test preparation company Resonance Eduventures Ltd. is nearing an asset reconstruction company (ARC)-led debt resolution that may see lenders taking about 80% haircut on principal claims, according to two people aware of the matter.“Only one ARC has bid for the debt and the deal is nearing completion where it will acquire a majority of the debt. Though the final negotiations on the terms of the deal will decide closure timelines,” said the first person cited above.The proposed transaction comes amid stress in India’s once-booming offline coaching sector.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Jio Financial Services Ltd, the financial services arm of Reliance Industries Ltd, plans to use its newly-launched marketplace to sell products that are otherwise not within its risk appetite, managing director and chief executive officer Hitesh Sethia said on Monday.“For example, we offer personal loans through half a dozen lenders on our marketplace. We are not licensed to issue credit cards, and so we have over 50 credit cards (on the marketplace); business loans are something we are starting to offer,” Sethia said over phone.In February, Jio Financial Services launched its marketplace for financial products through the JioFinance app.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Mumbai: A clutch of India's top private banks will decide by the end of next year who their new chief executives would be, and while the incumbents remain eligible, industry experts are keen on clarity over the second line of leadership.Chief executive officers (CEOs) of five prominent private sector banks —HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and IDFC First Bank—will require regulatory nod for another term. While the board of ICICI Bank has already approved a shorter-than-usual two-year term for CEO Sandeep Bakhshi, HDFC Bank’s Sashidhar Jagdishan is willing to serve another term.