UPS Financial News

Oil prices rose in early trade on Wednesday as large wildfires were threatening Canada's oil sands and as the market expected U.S. crude oil and gasoline inventories to show a drawdown later in the day. Brent crude futures were up 34 cents, or 0.4% at $82.71 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures (WTI) rose 38 cents, or 0.5%, to $78.39 a barrel by 0016 GMT.

mutual funds to the extent of money required, financial planners suggest borrowing against your funds for such short-term needs. HOW CAN YOU GET A LOAN AGAINST YOUR MUTUAL FUND UNITS? WHAT DOES IT COST? A loan against your equity or hybrid mutual fund units can be taken from a bank or a non-banking finance company (NBFC). The interest rate could be in the range of 9-11% based on the loan amount and tenure. Once you pledge your MF units, they are marked as under lien, which means you cannot sell or switch the units. Financial planners recommend borrowing against equity-oriented mutual funds and not against liquid or debt-oriented funds. WHAT IS THE ADVANTAGE OF BORROWING AGAINST MF UNITS? Loan against MFs gives you the option of receiving immediate liquidity against the fund units that you own. It is like an overdraft facility for shortterm monetary requirements, with a relatively shorter tenure compared to other loans. It can be used judiciously by people looking to leverage their otherwise idle mutual fund investments, and also raise capital quickly for short-term financing needs. You need not sell your mutual fund units, hence your financial plan remains intact and neither is your ownership of fund units divested after pledging them for a loan. However, do not use this money to buy stocks or equity mutual funds. This is because in the near term volatility can be high and you could end up making a mark-to-market loss while also paying the interest on the loan.

Nasdaq scored a record closing high on Tuesday and the S&P 500 and the Dow also advanced as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell reassured investors while they digested Tuesday's data and waited for Wednesday's crucial consumer inflation report. U.S. producer prices increased more than expected in April as the cost of services and goods rose sharply, leading traders to pare back bets of a first rate cut in September.

₹40 lakh for them, which is higher than what a middle-manager gets in these banks," said Upasana Agarwal, partner for professional and financial services at ABC Consultants, an executive search and talent advisory firm. “Their job role will include working with banking domain leaders to train the younger workforce on AI modules." According to Vijay Sivaram, chief executive of Quess IT Staffing, there has been a 30-35% increase in hiring mandates for AI-skilled engineers across sectors over the past year-and-half. Some of the growing demand for AI-skilled employees may be fuelled by market hype, say recruiters.

Indian stock market: The Indian stock market indices, Sensex and the Nifty 50, closed higher for the third consecutive session, despite varying signals from global markets, on Tuesday, May 14. Following a nearly 2 percent decline last week, market benchmarks rebounded this week, buoyed by improved valuations. The medium- to long-term prospects for the Indian stock market remain optimistic, supported by the nation's promising economic growth outlook.

₹1,600–1,800 crore in advertising revenue for Disney Star, the official media rights holder this season, similar to the previous tournament in Australia two years ago. Multiple media planners told Mint that the revenue figure will likely stay unchanged from the 2022 season despite the number of matches and teams being higher this time. This is because for the Indian audiences, some matches will start early in the morning, which could make it difficult for the broadcaster to grab eyeballs.

Dividend stocks: Shares of Hindustan Zinc Ltd, IRB Infrastructure Developers Ltd, Coforge Ltd, Ador Welding Ltd, Aptus Value Housing Finance India Ltd, Canara Bank, Solara Active Pharma Sciences Ltd, and Viji Finance Ltd will be in focus when the stock market opens on May 15 (Wednesday). The Board of Directors of these companies have declared interim dividend, stock split, and rights issue of equity shares for their eligible shareholders. The record date by the eight companies to ascertain the eligibility of shareholders for their respective issues has been fixed on May 15.

A new white paper from HealthView Services, a leading provider of retirement cost data and planning tools for the financial industry, is challenging the industry practice of planning for clients to live to age 95.

Kudlow panelists Kevin Brady, Art Laffer and Sandra Smith discuss how Bidenomics is falling flat with voters.

Los Angeles, Streaming service Prime Video on Friday renewed the critically-acclaimed series "The Boys" for a fifth season. The season five order for the satirical superhero comes weeks ahead of the fourth season's debut on Prime Video, a press release said. Created by Erik Kripke, "The Boys" is based on The New York Times best-selling comic by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, and follows the eponymous team of vigilantes as they combat superpowered individuals who abuse their abilities. The show's fourth season will start streaming on Prime Video with three episodes on June 13, followed by the release of a new episode each week, ending with the epic season finale on July 18.

Alcohol is injurious to health, especially for those who are inclined towards frequent and excessive drinking. However, a protein gel has been developed by a group of researchers which is claimed to have neutralized the detrimental impact of alcohol even before it enters the bloodstream, New York Post reported citing a paper on SciTechDaily. Researchers at ETH Zurich have achieved a remarkable feat with the development of a gel that demonstrates promising potential in reducing blood alcohol levels in mice by up to 50 percent while concurrently safeguarding their bodies from alcohol-induced damage, New York Post reported.

Residents of several neighbourhoods in Fort McMurray have been ordered to leave their homes as a wildfire rages out-of-control south of the community.

₹1,176.59 crore from anchor investors a day before its initial public offerings (IPO) opens for subscription. According to the exchange filing, the company allocated 4,32,57,009 equity shares to anchor investors at a price of ₹272 per share.

Gemini Pro 1.5 model, which has been engineered to comprehend vast datasets. With the expansion of token capacity from 1 million to 2 million, the Gemini Pro model is now capable of processing extensive amounts of textual and video data, facilitating more nuanced responses to complex inquiries.

After booming in the anything-goes pandemic era, a once-fashionable investment strategy is falling out of favor anew, hitting some niche ETF providers along the way.

content is taking centre stage on over-the-top (OTT) platforms in India as streamers look to ape the traditional TV model of offering diverse content slate that caters to different age groups and demographics, amid the summer vacation for schools and colleges. With a fan base of 180 million and growing, India is poised to become one of the most significant markets for anime content in the world after China even as the global popularity of anime, which has its roots in Japan, is on the rise. Anime market in India is projected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13% from 2024 to 2030, driven by factors such as Japanese pop culture, global media exposure, and demand from millennials and Gen Zs, as per the US-based Grand View Research.

consumer goods companies such as Hindustan Unilever (HUL), Dabur, Adani Wilmar and Parle Products have said the contribution of quick commerce to overall ecommerce sales rose as high as 35% in FY24, almost doubling in a year. Quick commerce drove overall ecommerce for these companies as well as the broader fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry, executives said. The contribution of quick commerce was 15-18% in FY23.

export ban on onions 10 days ago, export demand has dried up as Indian onion is more expensive than Pakistan's. Besides, subdued exports dampened domestic onion prices by over 15 % in the last week. Exporters don't see demand coming for another 15 days as overseas buyers, who have stocked overpriced Pakistani onions when Indian onion was not available. They want to liquidate their stocks as India's entry has crashed the international onion prices by more than 50% in a week. «Most of the buyers from our traditional markets like Malaysia, Sri Lanka, UK and the UAE had stocked onions from Pakistan. They had not expected the Indian government to lift the export ban till the general elections were over,» said an exporter of onions from Nashik, who claims that the export orders, after spiking for a couple of days, have suddenly dried up. India's lifting of its export ban in May took the international markets by surprise. India has kept a minimum export price (MEP) of $550 per tonne with export duty of 40%.

Hamied family that founded Cipla are set to offload shares via block deals, said people aware of the matter, eight months after promoter-stake-sale talks with Torrent Pharma collapsed. A stake of up to 2.53% will be sold for an estimated Rs 2,637 crore by MK Hamied’s wife Shirin and their daughters Samina and Rumana along with Okasa Pharma, another promoter group entity, they said. The deals are likely to happen as early as Wednesday, they said. The move, days after the company posted its best annual results, has triggered speculation that more such transactions could be in the offing. The collapse of the $7 billion sale last year after lengthy negotiations had reportedly led to divisions within the family, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The three persons cited above hold 4.24% of Cipla while Osaka Pharma owns a 0.02% stake. They are offering to sell up to 20.45 million shares at Rs 1,289.50-1,357.35 apiece, translating to a total deal value of about Rs 2,637 crore ($316 million). That’s a discount of 0-5% to Cipla's closing price of Rs 1,357.35 on the NSE on Tuesday. There will be a post-sale, 90-day lock-in period, said the people cited.

demand in the European Union, West Asia and the US has boosted export order books by at least 10% from six months before, companies said, signalling a possible recovery from last year. Leather goods, footwear, and apparel are driving demand but engineering goods shipments for new projects are facing a challenge due to geopolitical tensions, exporters said. «Overall, compared to the last six months, the order position has improved 15-20% for leather footwear especially from the US and partially Europe,» said Rafeeq Ahmed, chairman, Farida Group, one of India's largest shoe manufacturers and exporters. «The demand for non-leather footwear is also coming up.» India's total goods exports in FY24 fell 3.1% to $437 billion from $451 billion in the previous fiscal. Apparel exporters cited an increase of over 10% in orders starting February, mostly from the UK, US and the EU. «The decline in demand has slowed and there are obvious signs of improvement. Industry has an ambitious target of $20 billion apparel exports in FY25,» said Mithileshwar Thakur, secretary general, Apparel Export Promotion Council.

Canadians shopping for a new vehicle this spring and summer might find a bit of relief from recent years of tight supply and high prices.