| News Announcement |
Impact Analysis |
| US Fed hiked rates by 25 basis points along expected lines in its March meet |
- This was the first policy announcement by Jerome Powell and the big triggers were jobs data and inflation
- Fed has projected rates at 3.2% by end of 2020 which means the Fed could look at 4 rate hikes in 2018 instead of 3
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| Trump virtually triggered an aggressive trade and tariff war against China |
- The predatory tariffs are likely to impact Chinese imports to the tune of $50 billion and could invite retaliation
- China holds over $1.4 trillion of US treasuries and that could become the stick to browbeat the US
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| Nifty cracked below the 10,000 mark in week end trades |
- After a gap of almost 5 months, the Nifty cracked below the psychological 10,000 mark on Friday
- While the overall trend is not clear, as of now the market appears to have become a sell-on-rises market
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| Crude oil prices dropped on fears of the trade war between the US and China |
- Higher tariffs could lead to large scale job losses and that could depress demand for commodities
- That explains why most industrial commodities including oil were trading sharply in negative territory
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| After BOB and PNB, Union Bank also gets caught in loan scam |
- This follows after CBI booked Totem Infrastructure in a Rs.1394 crore loan fraud
- Additionally, the promoters of India Technomac have been arrested in a Rs.6000 crore loan fraud
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| Dalmia files affidavit calling L&T’s bid for Binani Cement as null and void |
- After Dalmia had won the bid to buy Binani Cement, Ultratech had made a counter outside offer for Rs.7266 crore
- Dalmia had objected to this private deal since it defeated the entire sanctity of the NCLT process for bankruptcy resolution
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| Indian companies may see bonds worth over $1 billion maturing in 2018 |
- Close to $1 billion of bonds belong to Vedanta, Indiabulls Real Estate and Tata Motors with no liquidity concerns
- Asia overall has nearly $850 billion of debts payable by 2022 with 10 companies accounting for 31% of the debt
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| Kumaramangalam Birla to head the merged Idea-Vodafone as VC |
- The merger was essentially planned to take on competition from Bharti Airtel and the price war of Reliance Jio
- The merger makes Idea-Vodafone the largest telecom player by size but its ARPUs are way lower than competition
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| Government plans to permit 74% FDI in defence through automatic route |
- This will be a sharp jump up from the current level of 49% which did not elicit interest in the “Make in India” pitch
- Government plans to increase local defence production 3-fold to Rs.170,000 crore to boost domestic production
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| Medical insurance premiums could see a rise in premiums |
- This has been necessitated after IRDA passed an order that genetic disorders cannot be a ground for claim rejection
- Medical insurers already pay Rs.101 as claims for Rs.100 collected as premiums, meaning premiums need to go up
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| SEBI looks to revamp algo trading norms and norms for IBC |
- To avoid a repeat of NSE like situation, SEBI may mandate that exchanges need to provide basic co-location services free
- This point is likely to be taken up for debate in the SEBI board meet slated towards the end of this month
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| Mark Zuckerberg has admitted to data lapses by Facebook |
- The bone of contention was the use of private FB data by Cambridge Analyttica for their business purposes
- FB with over 1.5 billion profiles has a population larger than China and now there are serious data security questions
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| Lenders of Essar Steel have rejected bids by Arcelor and Numetal |
- Numetal was disqualified as it had the son of Ravi Ruia on its Board of Directors, which is not allowed under NCLT
- Arcelor was disqualified due to their stake in Uttam Galva, which is also a company referred to NCLT under the IBC
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| Finance Ministry to meet with bond traders for gauging appetite for bonds |
- Bond prices have fallen sharply due to the sharp rise in 10-year yields and government needs to push its program
- If the government auction fails then it could push the 10-year yields closer to 8%, a level that could be dangerous for bonds
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| Technology stocks could be seeing a repeat of a 2000 overvaluation trend |
- For the first time since 2000, the weight of IT in MSCI Global went above that of Financials
- Ironically, the correction in IT led by Facebook began after the weight of IT crossed financials for a brief period in March
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| Government scraps export duty on Sugar exports out of India |
- For fiscal 2017-18, Indian sugar production at 29.5MT is likely to lead to a glut and fall in price
- The export window will at least allow Indian sugar mills to export, although global prices remain very weak
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| No Confidence Motion turns out to be a damp squib in parliament |
- While the Lok Sabha hardly transacted any business, the speaker could not take up the motion in the din and noise
- It was already quite apparent that the TDP and YSRC did not have the requisite numbers and were just biding for time
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| Indigo likely to lose market share due to the grounding of 7% of its fleet |
- The ground was triggered by the faulty P&W engines in its Airbus flights which forced DGCA to order groundings
- While Indigo’s profitability will not be impacted, its market share could take a hit in this quarter
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| Congress promises 5% cess on 1% richest Indians at its plenary session |
- According to Rahul Gandhi, this cess would be utilized to create a National Poverty Alleviation Fund
- This fund will be used to increase the guaranteed income under NREGA from Rs.7,200 to Rs.18,000 per year
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| UK judge admits to major procedural lapses by banks in Mallya’s case |
- The judge pointed out that the facts of the case clearly pointed towards connivance by bank officials in the loans
- Mallya’s counsel has accused most of the evidence produced by India against Mallya as false and fabricated
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| Two major Eastern Power see a leadership status quo |
- China ended up electing Xi for life as the prime minister of China which gives Xi the upper hand in the trade war
- Putin’s return to power in Russia means that the geopolitical tensions in central Asia and Europe could continue
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