Saturday, November 23
Businessman Elon Musk, an ally of President-elect Donald Trump, endorsed Republican Senator Rick Scott for U.S. Senate majority leader on Sunday as the race to fill the influential post heats up after the party won control of the chamber. Republicans are expected to hold at least 52 seats in the 100-member Senate after capturing three previously held by Democrats in West Virginia, Ohio and Montana in last Tuesday's election. Current Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who has led his party in the chamber since 2007, has said he will step down from leadership after the election. "Rick Scott for Senate Majority Leader!" Musk, a tech billionaire who has emerged as a major backer of Trump in recent months, wrote in a social media post on Sunday. Musk is the world's wealthiest person. Sco
ET Intelligence Group: Asian Paints announced a disappointing September quarter performance over the weekend. The results were marked by a 5.4% drop in consolidated revenues to ₹8,003 crore and a 480 basis points decline in operating margin to 15.5%. Consolidated net profit dropped 44% to ₹694 crore.One basis point is 0.01 percentage point.It was the third straight quarter of underperformance for the market leader in the decorative paints industry. Asian Paints' continued weak performance can no longer be considered coincidental coming at a time when competition has intensified with the entry of new large players like Birla Opus, JSW Paints and JK Paints and Coatings.Asian Paints' domestic decorative business posted a 0.5% drop in volume last quarter amid weak consumer sentiment and pe
New Delhi: The Centre may soon raise the wage ceiling and lower the headcount threshold under the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) as it aims to enhance and widen coverage for bolstering social security for workers.The current wage ceiling under the EPFO is ₹15,000 per month, which could be raised to up to ₹21,000 in line with the wage ceiling under the Employees' State Insurance Corporation. Further, the mandatory threshold in an organisation for joining the EPFO may be lowered to 10-15 employees from 20 currently. The ministry of labour and employment is currently discussing the matter with stakeholders, said people aware of the deliberations. They added that the government is keen to push the welfare measures as it prepares the ground for rollout of the Social Security
ET Intelligence Group: The extent of foreign portfolio investors' (FPIs) outflows from the Indian equity market tapered in the first week of November and so did the buying by domestic funds. It followed an unusually busy October which recorded an unprecedented selling by FPIs and equally strong buying by local funds.In the first five trading sessions of November, FPIs sold equities worth ₹19,993.7 crore ($2,374.6 million) net according to the data from NSDL. This compares with a massive selling of ₹44,914 crore ($5,352.1 million) in the first five sessions of the previous month, forming nearly half of the total selling worth ₹94,017 crore ($11,195.4 million) for the whole month.Domestic funds purchased equities worth ₹6,988 crore in the first four sessions of November, according to
For investors looking past the initial risk-on rally in US equities following Donald Trump's decisive election victory, now comes the hard part. The Republican president-elect made plenty of campaign promises: steep tariffs, tax cuts, business-friendly deregulation and tighter immigration laws, to name some. For investors who plowed into stocks last week on speculation Trump's policies will bolster the economy, the challenge is to figure out which sectors will get a lasting boost. Tariffs, for example, could spark inflation and hurt large multinational firms, while potentially helping domestically oriented small-cap stocks. However, an immigration crackdown risks lifting labor costs, likely squeezing smaller businesses. Meanwhile, a friendly stance toward traditional energy that lifts prod
