As the earnings season unfolds, it is clear that the overall performance of the corporate sector during the fourth quarter as well as during the full year 2008-09 has been way below its highs of the preceding years. This was only to be expected, given the general business climate, both global and domestic. What is both interesting and important, however, is the complex ways in which the macro-economic environment has been impacting corporate earnings across the different sectors.

Profit permutations

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Has one of recent history&rsquo;s worst slumps in commodity prices, witnessed since the second half of 2008, seen the bottom? There can be no clear answer to this question, though developments in the last few weeks tend to give this impression. The prices of some key commodities, including industrial and base metals, have tended to look up in recent weeks.

Uptick in commodities

In the blame game for the on-going economic downturn accusatory fingers have been pointed at the hard currency reserves accumulation of current account surplus developing countries. The investment of large FX balances in US Treasury and other G7 government securities was an enabling factor for the financial sector meltdown.

Jaimini Bhagwati: Insurance or Reserves?

There has been much talk in the run-up to the elections about holding national debates between parties. Such debates force candidates to reveal their platforms. Voters are then better informed about the choice they are about to make, and we can hope that such information-sharing will cause parties and candidates to agree on which issues are important.

Okonomos: Integrating Factors

History was re-written at a rather well-organised &lsquo;National Theatre Festival&rsquo; last fortnight, in Thrissur, Kerala. In his inaugural address, film maker and current chief of the Indian Peoples&rsquo; Theatre Association (IPTA), M S Sathyu, spoke a few things about the origins of IPTA that had theatre enthusiasts sit up and take notice. IPTA, which went on to become one of the most dynamic performing art movements in India in the 1940s and 1950s, is known to have had rather modest beginnings in 1942, before it became like a magnet for the young and radical artists, actors, musicians and dancers of the period.

Sadanand Menon: Re-visiting the IPTA years

I &rsquo;ve written on several occasions about the adverse effects of irrational taxes being imposed on wines, and now have a first-hand example to quote.

Costly hangovers

A V-shaped global recovery is within sight, so the bears should think about the prospect of giving ground.

Surjit S Bhalla: V shape of things to come

A call from a puzzled friend who lives about a kilometre away from me in the old colony of Jangpura in south Delhi. He&rsquo;s trying to figure out which Lok Sabha constituency Jangpura now falls under and who his parliamentary candidates are. Hundreds of thousands of voters in Delhi&mdash;and in many parts of urban India&mdash;face the same dilemma after the Election Commission&rsquo;s sweeping delimitation exercise was completed last year.

Sunil Sethi: Delhi's delimitation drama

The Sri Lankan Tamil card is perhaps the most overstated one there is.

Aditi Phadnis: Tamil tragedies

Pramod Bhasin heads Nasscom at a time when it needs leading from the front. Subir Roy discusses the challenges the industry faces, including the need to develop the Indian market.

Subir Roy: 'We must be part of the solution'

I learnt one thing the hard way in Rajasthan. Their open-ended mojris may look pretty, but they&rsquo;re no good for traipsing around in the desert. There I was, one minute thinking I was shod like a local in a brightly embroidered pair, and the next minute hobbling around with a thorn embedded deep in the sole of my foot. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s from the babool tree,&rdquo; said Pavani, a 16-year-old from a village near Sadri who was with me at the time. &ldquo;It&rsquo;ll fester if it stays in there,&rdquo; said she. I hopped around in pain, wondering how to pull it out as it was lodged too deep. &ldquo;Let me call my cousin Kamli, and we&rsquo;ll take it out for you in a jiffy,&rdquo; said Pavani. She was a year older, but a great friend and partner in crime, she said.

Geetanjali Krishna: The two faces of girlhood

I&rsquo;ve often wondered what people find to talk and laugh about when they&rsquo;re with their families at a restaurant or bar.

Kishore Singh: Some families do have fun

There has been handwringing in recent days about the depths to which the main political personages have stooped, while hitting out at each other. This concern is misplaced, for there is nothing wrong in campaigners putting across their views bluntly, or sharply as the case may be.

T N Ninan: Some real debate

Foot tapping at a spa

India TV's quitting the NBSDRA will cost it audience, advertising and goodwill.

Peng Hwa Ang & Aparimita Pramanik: TV news'self-regulatory regime wounded

Joe Biden was right: The president would be tested abroad soon after taking office. The challenge came in the Horn of Africa and Barack Obama passed.

Margaret Carlson: Obama passes one test, flunks a bigger one

On 29 March 2009, I had addressed a press conference in New Delhi and raised the important issue of vast amounts of Indian wealth stashed away in secret Swiss bank accounts and other tax havens around the world.

'PM did not put India&#39;s concern at the G-20 summit'

Use of algae and methanol for rapid carbon recycling is gaining popularity among power producers.

Sreelatha Menon: Bio-cleaners bring hope

At the recent meeting, a client said that it is time for new valuation theories as old theories are dead. This coming from someone who made it to the Top 300 rich list of Romanians indicated what smart money was thinking. It also illustrated how much time it took for a mainstream thought to be challenged.

Irrational exuberance

Given that it has been a one-way upmove, there is a good chance of profit-taking in the last five sessions of April.

Sell-off likely near expiry

The Sensex is now up more than 35 per cent from its low point, and what most observers (including this newspaper) categorised in mid-March as a bear-market rally has already lasted six weeks. The Indian market has performed in line with many markets in Asia and elsewhere (including the United States), which too have seen price surges of 25 per cent and more.

Will this rally last?

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