BUSINESS
US Fed plans to shrink balance sheet by $95bn a month: Minutes
The Fed's latest policy meeting was released on Wednesday, Xinhua news agency reported. Many participants noted that they would have preferred a 50 basis point increase in the target range for the federal funds rate at the March meeting, but a number of these participants indicated that in light of the uncertainty amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict, they judged that a 25 basis point hike would be appropriate.
US President Biden's extension of payment pause on federal student loans fuels inflation concerns
"Extending the debt pause would be a massive handout to doctors and lawyers that would only feed more inflation and worsen the nation's balance sheet," said Maya MacGuineas, President of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a budget watch group. "The debt pause disproportionately benefits high-income Americans with advanced degrees," she said.
Pak rupee's record-breaking downward streak continues for 16th session
The Pak rupee has maintained a non-stop downward streak for the 16th successive working day except on March 24, when it closed flat compared to the previous day's closing with investors worried about the political situation and economy, adding pressure on the central bank to rescue the falling currency. The Pak currency dropped 0.48 pert cent (or Re 1) to a new historic low beyond the important threshold of Rs 186 against the US dollar in the inter-bank market.
'Resignations of key officials raise policy uncertainty in Sri Lanka'
Accordingly, on April 3-4, all of Sri Lanka's cabinet, with the exception of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, tendered their resignations, along with the governor of the central bank. The resignations were partly a response to rising public dissatisfaction and social tensions over high inflation, shortages of essential items and lengthy power cuts, increasing political and policy uncertainty at a time when Sri Lanka is experiencing a severe external liquidity.
Insolvency proceedings initiated against Ananda Divine Developers
In a statement, ATS Infrastructure CMD Getamber Anand, who is also a director in Ananda Divine Developers, said: "We have received a copy of the order and we are in the middle of studying the same. However, the amount under consideration is a very small sum and the related project is completed and handed over.
Record High: India's agriculture exports touch $50 bn
As per the provisional figures released by the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCI&S), agri exports grew by 19.92 per cent in 2021-22 to touch $50.21 billion. "The growth rate is remarkable as it is over and above the growth of 17.66 per cent at $41.87 billion achieved in 2020-21, and it has been achieved in spite of unprecedented logistical challenges in the form of high freight rates, container shortages etc.," the Ministry said.
Musk risks new fight with SEC over late report on Twitter stake
According to Fox Business, the Tesla CEO on Monday disclosed that he had acquired a 9.2 per cent stake in Twitter -- making him its largest shareholder -- in an SEC form that investors are required to file when they own more than 5 per cent of a company. The filing, dated March 14, revealed that Musk bought about 73.5 million shares for roughly $2.9 billion.
Flexible workspace provider IndiQube raises $30 mn to double India footprint
Out of $30 million, IndiQube's promoters have infused $17 million, said the startup. "Over the next two years, we plan to more than double our pan-India footprint to over 10 million square feet venture into more than 15 tier-II cities and further ramp up technology integration, creating a consistent experience for our clients," said Rishi Das, co-founder of IndiQube.
Equity indices settle low, HDFC twins share decline
Sensex settled 0.9 per cent or 566 points down at 59,610, whereas Nifty dipped 0.8 per cent or 150 points down at 17,807. Among the individual stocks, HDFC Bank, HDFC, HDFC Life, HCL Technologies, and Tech Mahindra were the top five losers among the Nifty 50 companies during the session, tanking 3.6 per cent, 3.3 per cent, 2.4 per cent, 2 per cent, and 2 per cent, respectively.
Zomato, Swiggy suffer brief outage due to 'technical glitch'
According to website outage monitor platform DownDetector, the Amazon Web Services (AWS) servers went down at the same time on Wednesday afternoon, indicating that it may have caused the brief outage. However, it could not be confirmed. While 55 per cent users reported problems with server connection at AWS, 38 per cent had problems with AWS Console, according to DownDetector.
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