United States

President Biden signed an executive order late on Wednesday, banning US investments in certain key tech sectors of China. The new rules would place restrictions on investments by US private equity and venture capital firms, as well as joint ventures, in Chinese artificial intelligence, quantum computing and semiconductors, reports CNN.

The credit ratings agency said that its warning on the three banks reflected "ongoing strain" in the US banking sector, including increased pressures on funding and potential "weaknesses" in the amount of capital lenders are required to hold, CNN reported.

“Heart called on investors to buy crypto asset securities in offerings that he failed to register. He then defrauded those investors by spending some of their crypto assets on exorbitant luxury goods,” Eric Werner, Director of the Fort Worth Regional Office said in a statement.

The resilience of the US market, where the rally is spreading to the broader market, is supporting global markets. But the rally is stretching valuations beyond comfort levels, he said. The FY24 Q1 earnings growth is muted except in banking and refineries. Results indicate that rural demand is yet to pick up in a meaningful manner, he said.

The blue-chip stock index on Wednesday notched its 13th straight day of gains, its best winning streak since 1987 and its highest level since February 2022, CNN reported. If the Dow closes higher for a 14th consecutive session, that would be its longest run of consecutive gains since May 1897, it said.

Gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic output, grew by an annualized, seasonally adjusted 2.4 rate in the April-through-June period, the Commerce Department reported on Thursday. That was a faster pace than in the first three months of the year and was also above economists' expectations for a 1.8 per cent rate, according to Refinitiv. GDP is also adjusted for inflation, CNN reported.

The new hike, which was announced after a two-day meeting of the Fed’s top decision-making body, take the rate to the highest level in 22 years — to between 5.25 and 5.50 per cent. "Tighter credit conditions for households and businesses are likely to weigh on economic activity, hiring and inflation," the Fed said in a statement, adding: "The extent of these effects remains uncertain. The committee remains highly attentive to inflation risks."

Till July 21, FPIs have invested Rs 43,804 crore in India. This figure includes investment through stock exchanges, primary market and bulk deals. FPIs continue to invest in financials, automobiles, capital goods, realty and FMCG. FPI buying in these sectors have contributed hugely to the surge in prices of stocks in these sectors and the Sensex and Nifty scaling record highs, he said.

"Professor Fiona Scott Morton has informed me of her decision to not take up the post as chief competition economist," Vestager added on her Twitter account on Wednesday. "I accept this with regret and hope that she will continue to use her extraordinary skillset to push for strong competition enforcement," she said.

These top seven stocks, Amazon, Apple, Alphabet, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla, are called as the ‘Magnificent Seven’. The Top 7 stocks drove 73 per cent of S&P 500 gains in 1H, each up 90 per cent on average in 1H. These have a market capitalisation of roughly equivalent to half of US GDP.