Page 1322 - Business Finance

Fed's Kashkari: Don't snuff out growth with rate hikes

(Reuters) - Neel Kashkari, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, on Tuesday repeated his view that the U.S. central bank should not raise interest rates as long as inflation remains low.

Italian banks face 2019 funding crunch without ECB help

MILAN (Reuters) - Many Italian banks are struggling to borrow on the private markets and want European Central Bank (ECB) help as they seek more than 55 billion euros ($63 billion) in funding this year.

Exclusive: Jana liquidates two hedge funds, to focus only on activism

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Jana Partners LLC, founded by Barry Rosenstein, is shutting down two stock-picking hedge funds following losses and will focus instead on its main strategy of investing in a handful of companies and pushing management to improve their performance.

Oil rises two percent on hopes for China economic stimulus

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices rose about 2 percent on Tuesday, along with world stock markets, supported by China's plan to introduce policies to stabilise a slowing economy, reversing the previous session's losses due to grim data in the world's second-largest economy.

Netflix boosts Wall Street higher; bank earnings disappoint

(Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Tuesday, as hopes of more stimulus for China's slowing economy and a jump in Netflix shares helped investors look past disappointing earnings from JPMorgan and Wells Fargo.

IT firm KPIT net profit grows 3.63 pc to Rs 63.9 cr in Dec qtr

IT firm KPIT Tuesday said its consolidated net profit for the December 2018 quarter grew 3.63 per cent to Rs 63.9 crore. The total income of the company for the quarter stood at Rs 566.7 crore as against Rs 569.47 crore in the same period previous fiscal. Last year, KPIT and Birlasoft had announced an amalgamation scheme, which was approved by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) with the written order coming on December 18, 2018. "Hence the results for the quarter... are published only for the continuing business, which is Business IT and only the Profit Before Tax, Tax and Profit after Tax numbers are published for the discontinued business, which is the engineering business being demerged," the filing noted. Kishor Patil, co-founder, CEO and MD of KPIT, said the Board has adopted the composite scheme of merger and demerger with January 15, 2019 as the effective date. "We look forward to the exciting journey of focus and value creation in both the entities viz Birlasoft in ...

Euro zone economy weaker than expected: ECB's Draghi

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The euro zone's economy is weakening more than expected and still needs "significant" support from the European Central Bank, ECB President Mario Draghi said on Tuesday.

Govt unveils national air cargo policy

The government Tuesday unveiled its much-awaited national air cargo policy, which seeks to make India among the top five air freight markets by 2025, besides creating air transport shipment hubs at all major airports over the next six years. The policy document released during the two-day Global Aviation Summit 2019, which kick started here Tuesday, stated that the policy will encourage code sharing/inter-line agreements between foreign and Indian carriers. As per the policy, international cargo comprises 60 per cent of the total air cargo tonnes handled in the country, logging a growth of 15.6 per cent in the previous fiscal, while domestic cargo grew by over 8 per cent, which reflects the skewed modal mix, in which roads account for over 60 per cent of cargo transportation as compared to the global average of around 30 per cent. Indian express industry is one of the fastest growing markets globally, but with a small share of about 2 per cent of the global market, grew

BSE gets Sebi nod to launch Gold Mini, Guarseed and Guargum contracts

Leading stock exchange BSE Tuesday said it has received markets regulator Sebi's approval to launch Gold Mini, Guarseed and Guargum future contracts on its commodity derivatives segment. The future contracts are monthly compulsory deliverable contracts with lot size of 100 grams, 10 metric tons and 10 metric tons, respectively, the bourse said in a release. Recently, BSE received Sebi's approval to introduce weekly futures and options contracts on the S&P BSE BANKEX. The bourse commenced trading in gold and silver contracts on October 1, 2018 to mark its entry into the commodity derivatives segment.

Global Markets: Stocks climb on hopes for China stimulus; euro slips after data

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Major world stock markets climbed on Tuesday, helped by hopes of more stimulus for China's economy, while the euro declined against the U.S. dollar following weak German economic data.

As loans and revenue shrink, Wells Fargo touts cost cuts

(Reuters) - Wells Fargo & Co on Tuesday said its loan book shrank and quarterly revenue fell in all of its major businesses, especially consumer banking, sending its shares lower.

ECB's guidelines on bad debts hit Italian banks, irk Rome

(Reuters) - News that the European Central Bank wants euro zone banks to set aside more money for their soured loans sank shares in Italian lenders and sparked a rebuke from one of the country's top politicians on Tuesday.

VW, Ford team up on trucks, eye deals on EVs, self-driving cars

DETROIT (Reuters) - Volkswagen AG and Ford Motor Co said on Tuesday they will join forces on commercial vans and pickups and are exploring joint development of electric and self-driving technology, actions meant to save the automakers billions of dollars.

From client to competitor: China's rise prompts German rethink

BERLIN (Reuters) - As a golden era for its exporters fades, Germany is scrambling to secure its interests in Beijing, but China's transformation from customer to competitor is forcing Europe's largest economy to make changes at home.

BNP Paribas to close U.S. commodities trading desk - source

PARIS (Reuters) - France's largest listed bank BNP Paribas is to close its New York commodities trading desk, offering its services from desks elsewhere, a source close to the matter said Tuesday, confirming an earlier Bloomberg report.

Weak U.S. producer prices support tame inflation picture

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. producer prices dropped by the most in more than two years in December as the cost of energy products and trade services fell, adding to signs of tame inflation that may allow the Federal Reserve to be patient about raising interest rates this year.

Walmart opts to leave CVS partnerships over pricing dispute

(Reuters) - CVS Health Corp said on Tuesday Walmart Inc is leaving its network for commercial and Medicaid prescription drug plans after the two companies failed to agree on pricing.

Fortis avails Rs 1,100 cr loan from Citibank

Fortis Healthcare Tuesday said it has inked a pact with Citibank to avail a loan of Rs 1,100 crore in order to take care of its contractual commitments and strategic objectives. The loan agreement was executed on January 10, with certain CPs (commercial papers) for disbursal being fulfilled on January 14, Fortis Healthcare said in a regulatory filing. The board of Fortis Healthcare had approved in July last year a proposal from IHH Healthcare to invest Rs 4,000 crore by way of preferential allotment for a 31.1 per cent stake. Fortis shares Tuesday ended 0.90 per cent down at Rs 138.15 on the BSE.

'December 2018 witnessed 8% increase in hiring activity compared to last year'

There has been an 8 per cent increase in the hiring activity in December 2018, as compared to the same period a year ago.As per a report on hiring activity in India by Naukri.com, "The Naukri Job Speak index for December 2018, at (1,987), marked a rise of 8 per cent in hiring activity from December 2017 (1,833)."Detailing further about the industry-specific statistics, the report added, "The recruitment activity in IT-Software witnessed a growth of 14 per cent as compared to December 2017. The Auto/or Ancillary industry recorded a notable rise of 24 per cent and the HR domain grew by 17 per cent in December 2018. The hiring sentiment across metropolitan cities was positive with Bangalore and Delhi recording a rise of 13 per cent and 10 per cent respectively."There was also a marked increase in the hiring in Telecom and BPO sector as well."The Construction and Engineering industry was up by 18 per cent. Other industries which witnessed an increase in hiring activity in December 2018 ...

U.S. producer prices post biggest drop in over two years

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. producer prices fell by the most in more than two years in December amid declines in the costs of energy products and trade services, adding to signs of tame inflation that could allow the Federal Reserve to be patient about raising interest rates this year.