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The first benefits of the new year will go out Friday, with eligible Canadians receiving goods and services tax (GST) or harmonized sales tax (HST) credits from the federal government.

Canada’s 100 highest-paid CEOs earned $13.2 million on average in 2023 from salaries, bonuses and other compensation, according to the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Public policy is so termed because it is done for us the people, the public. But how does it actually filter down to the public? How do people perceive what is done for them? When Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation dropped from 6.21 % in October to 5.48 % in November, did people perceive a decline? For the record, these monthly rates are year-on-year, based on the CPI values in the corresponding months of 2023.

«But Q3 is going to be better. But the earnings slowdown is probably going to take a couple of quarters to wear out. What has really happened is there has been this little bit of a change that we have seen,» says Nitin Raheja, Julius Baer Wealth Advisors. Hope 2025 is bigger, better, brighter for you as well as the markets. But is that the base case scenario because last year we saw gains of almost 9% on Nifty, but it was the smallcap and midcap indices which were up over 20-25%. Is it going to be another year where smallcaps and midcaps outperform massively or do you think there is room for largecaps to catch up? Nitin Raheja: So, what you have sort of highlighted is correct. I mean, last year was a pretty much of an anomalous year where the largecaps underperformed dramatically while the mid and smallcaps actually gave almost 70-80% outperformance vis-a-vis the largecaps.

«So, look to buy on dips, that should be your strategy for the current market scenario. At 24,000 today, the risk-reward is not favourable for fresh longs, but if there is an intraday dip, you can be a buyer at these junctures,» says Rahul Sharma, JM Financial Services. It seems like it is a good start of the new calendar year. Just yesterday, we have seen good gains and we are just building on to the gains. 23,900 is what we have crossed in today's trading session. What is your take coming in on the benchmark indices? Rahul Sharma: Well, it is a cheerful start to 2025 and the best thing about January or rather this quarter is there is a strong possibility that this month be a positive one because historically speaking around 20-23 years every time Nifty has given three months of negative returns, the four-month has been invariably positive, so that is a bit of statistic. But if we look at the institutional positioning, especially the FIIs long-short ratio, that bottoms out generally around that 12% mark. So, we have come close to 14% roundabouts and it is a matter of time that Nifty shakes out that and we start a structural recovery from here. Zooming into what exactly is happening today.

«I guess 2025 will perhaps not see acceleration in growth slowdown, but more of the same of 2024 would likely continue, that is how I kind of think of how macro would evolve,» says Maneesh Dangi, Macro Mosaic Investing. So, tell me, is it going to be as happy in the year ahead or not because the macros definitely have gotten wobbly, some of it is already in the price in the year gone by, but what is lined up ahead? Maneesh Dangi: I guess in 2024, the macro sort of evolved, surprisingly that US continued to stay strong, but India certainly weakened a lot more than what most of us anticipated. And I guess since these growth trends to last for longer than six-eight months, it is more likely than not that India would continue to stay in a slow lane. At some point in time, hopefully US slows and then gives us breathing space to cut rates and ease regulatory environment, and of course, that perhaps would put a floor to the growth slowdown. So, I guess 2025 will perhaps not see acceleration in growth slowdown, but more of the same of 2024 would likely continue, that is how I kind of think of how macro would evolve.

«We are at the end of that regulatory tightening cycle. Then second, interest rates have been very high for a long time. We are maybe three-six months away from where at least the liquidity part of the interest rates should start easing out unless Trump does something really drastic in US and then the asset quality cycle, that also in microfinance, personal loans, that we are already seeing that the deterioration has happened,» says Digant Haria, GreenEdge Wealth. Is it going to be bigger, better for the financial sector because last two to three years, the Bank Nifty has been underperforming the benchmark index. A lot of these stocks are just sideways. This morning there is a positive news at least on Kotak Mahindra Bank wherein you have Citi upgrading it. But is it going to be a year of financials come back? Digant Haria: So, you are right, last two years have been tough for the financial sector. The sector, it seems that the valuations are cheap, but then we have growth slowdown also. I do not think that the first half of 2025 is going to be any magic for this entire banking sector or the NBFC space. But we are very close to the bottom, if not the bottom and when we say bottom, it is in terms of business that the RBI started tightening somewhere 12 months back.

investment portfolio. If you are thinking of taking a close look at your mutual fund portfolio, we can help you.

Pashupati Advani, Founder, Global Foray, says he has been analyzing struggling and stable sectors. The auto sector saw a decline in 2024, highlighting potential opportunities in underperforming areas. Auto sales are down, but decisions can wait. Other affected sectors include oil, gas, and, to a lesser extent, energy and commodities, may see a turnaround this year. Public sector companies and banks are also facing challenges, presenting opportunities as they remain 10% to 20% below peak values. Overall, the market appears stable. However, with investments returning to the US and optimism surrounding Donald Trump's presidency, this shift may not benefit other regions. What is your outlook on the markets and which are the big themes that you are tracking at this point? Pashupati Advani: I have just been reading which are the sectors that have been hit and the ones that are not hit. One is the auto sector, which was down in 2024. I am one of those who believe that you should look at sectors that have not done well and see if there are any hidden gems. So, one is autos. We see that there is pressure in auto sales. There is still a little bit of time before you go into that.

Dipan Mehta, Director, Elixir Equities, says the earning season and the Trump presidency are the two important events or trends to look out for in 2025. Mehta is hoping for the best because the September quarter was pretty disappointing. Be it a mild turnaround in December quarter or a continuation of September quarter – that will determine the trend for the market. The market can go either which way. It can rally back up to its all-time highs or correct further from these levels. Mehta also says that there is a good trading opportunity within the banks, especially tier II PSU banks. He is more positive on them than the private sector banks, but it is a short term, maybe a few months, one or two quarter type of a play. In the medium to long term, he is underweight banks.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. India’s government recently released the findings of its 2023-24 survey of household consumption expenditure and expressed satisfaction at the seeming narrowing of spending gaps in society at large and between rural and urban populations. Such changes would, of course, be desirable.

Republican Party over immigration, a signature promise in Donald Trump's return to the White House. Unsurprisingly, the pressure point is over high-skilled immigration through the H-1B visa programme, which mainly draws in tech professionals from India. On Tuesday, the incoming president said that he had not changed his mind over the contentious issue, adding that the US needs competent and smart people for the country. Trump's core constituency has a strong nativist element that informed his approach to H-1B visas in his first term.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Behind the uproar over the H-1B visa is a simple fact: America’s tech industry is hooked on imported labor. The program was at the center of a fight that broke out between President-elect Donald Trump’s supporters over the holidays.

It’s been a rough few years for Canadians looking to break into home ownership as unaffordability issues persist across the country.

«The fact that they have access to millions of the kirana stores, neighbourhood stores which has helped them to enjoy margins versus that on the product side you have seen the entry of private labels coming,» says Nilesh Shah, MD & CEO, Envision Capital. But other than that what about overall consumption and let us pick on staples first. There is that slowdown, one has felt the heat in the earnings as well, but do you think the stock prices have absorbed all of that? Nilesh Shah: The big FMCG companies are continuing to face problems. My view is that they are facing a structural slowdown not because we are not consuming more, it is just the way we consume has changed and changed quite meaningfully.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) recently released figures for net household financial savings (flow) during 2023-24. These savings stood at 5.3% of gross domestic product (GDP), up slightly from 5% in 2022-23.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. It is that time of the year when you start budgeting and declare investments for official purposes. This task becomes more harrowing when you are really bad at maintaining paperwork.

LPG gas cylinder by Rs 14.5 to Rs 1,804 in the national capital and other metro cities, effective January 1, 2025.

Mayuresh Joshi, Head Equity, Marketsmith India, says expect a lot of fireworks this year and markets are expected to remain volatile, at least in the first quarter of the next calendar year with Trump assuming US reins, soft earnings so far and the Budget at the beginning of February. But if earnings show signs of improvement as we head into Q4 and Q1 of the next financial year, we might see some respite going forward but the first quarter is going to be very volatile as far as the markets are concerned. Joshi also says that the power theme stands out in 2025. The entire ecosystem of power generators, power transmitters, EPC players, and financiers would continue doing well if the big picture argument of power for the next five years continues and the capital spend on power probably continues. What is the year ahead looking like? Is it anything close to a party or is it going to be a more sombre year? Mayuresh Joshi: It will be a party with a lot of fireworks to be honest. You never know what is going to happen. When Trump resumes office, the kind of tweets that you are initially seeing come through, what he probably imposes in terms of tariffs or otherwise, he is going to keep markets on their toes. But all the rhetoric might probably keep markets on track.

Trump. The benchmark S&P 500 (.SPX), opens new tab was up 23.31% in 2024, even with a recent speed bump, marking its second-straight year of gains exceeding 20%, lifted by megacap tech stocks and excitement over the business potential of artificial intelligence.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. India’s latest survey of household consumption expenditure, carried out from August 2023 to July 2024, found a decline in the “Gini coefficient" of consumption inequality since the same period of 2022-23.