Category: Business

Business

E-retailers Want To Take Part In Joint Fight Against COVID-19

HT News

E-commerce giants Amazon and Flipkart again put the case for sale of non-essential goods and asked for permission to sell the items that have become essentials over a prolonged period. Also, the ecommerce companies promised to make deliveries while following the lockdown conditions of social distancing.

Amazon delivery

It said that ecommerce offered the safest way for sellers/retailers to serve the needs of citizens while ensuring social distancing. Amazon was committed to keep citizens safe and that e-commerce can play a crucial role in the joint fight against the pandemic said the company. It further maintained it can help in fight against coronavirus by starting supply of goods.

Flipkart delivery

The ecommerce company said that it can help in easing the burden of piled up inventory of MSMEs with quick delivery of products to consumers in a safe and secure manner. Also, it promised maintaining social distancing norms while making online deliveries to consumers.

Government on ecommerce deliveries

The government has allowed sale of essential goods that include pharmaceuticals and medical equipment through ecommerce platforms but it has put a ban on sale of non-essential goods by e-retailers. The delivery agents handling delivery of non-essential goods are advised to follow the instructions provide by the governments of states and UTs they are working from.

Lockdown in India

The country is currently in the middle of the extended lockdown enforced to break the chain of spread of novel coronavirus. The lockdown was extended on April 14 and it will remain operative till May 3.

Source: https://bit.ly/3eYxkTY

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Business

What Are Local Shops On Amazon?

HT News

Local Shop on Amazon is new initiative by Amazon. The programme is launched to scale the business by starting selling goods directly from local shops. But the real objective is to get an edge over Reliance’s JioMart and Walmart-owned Flipkart.

Amazon’s new programme

The US e-commerce giant has promised to invest Rs. 10 crores in its “Local Shop on Amazon” programme. The company has already started the project with over 5,000 traditional retailers. The programme will provide the convenience of ordering goods online and scalability to offline retailers.

The pilot project has been kicked off in over 100 cities including big metros and Tier-1 and Tier-2 cities like Ahmedabad, Coimbatore, Faridabad, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Lucknow, Pune, Saharanpur and Surat. The sellers participating in the project include automotive, books, furniture, home décor, jewellery, kitchen appliances, sports and toys.

Traditional retailers are included in the programme with a condition that is to have a robust delivery mechanism of same day or the next day. Amazon wants the retailers to use pin-code delivery system to ease the burden from its delivery fleet. The shopkeepers are provided “Amazon Delivery App” that will help the customers and Amazon in keeping track of shipments.

Timing of the launch

Like other e-retailers, Amazon is also struggling to fulfil its orders due to national lockdown in the event of spread of novel coronavirus. And the arrival of local shops into the business will help solve the delivery issue to a large extent.

Source: https://bit.ly/2x5qwmh

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Business

Facebook Invests $5.7 Billion In Reliance Jio

HT News

Reliance Industries share took a high jump when the social media giant Facebook announced buying a minority stake in Reliance Jio. It would invest $5.7 billion (Rs. 43,574 crore) in the Mukesh Ambani owned telco firm. With the investment, Facebook will become the largest minority shareholder in Jio Platforms Limited.

Highlights of the share market news

• Reliance Industries witnessed a jump of 103 points (8.33%) from Rs. 1,236 to Rs. 1,339

• Sensex traded 131 points higher at 30,758

• Reliance Industries share was also a top gainer on Nifty

• On NSE, its share gained over 8% to Rs. 1,339

• Total 4.11 lack shares were traded on BSE

• The trading value of shares was Rs. 55.72 crore

• After trading, the market cap of the firm increased to Rs. 8.23 lack crore on NSE

Stock of Reliance Industries Limited

The 5, 20 and 50 day moving average of RIL stock was higher after the trading but lower than the 100 and 200-day mowwving averages. Also, RIL reported a gain of 13.57% in one week and 28.03% in one month. On BSE, the share opened with a gain of 6.79% at Rs. 1,320.

Facebook’s investment in RIL

Jio said in a statement that Facebook’s investment will translate to a 9.99% equity stakes in Jio Platforms on a fully diluted basis. Facebook said that it wanted to collaborating WhatsApp with e-commerce venture of Reliance. Facebook wants to enable people to connect with small businesses on JioMart.

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Business

Biggest Ever Meltdown In Crude Oil Prices Explained

HT News

A measure of oil volatility skyrocketed to more than 400% on Monday when crude oil went below to $10 a barrel and then to zero and then slipped into the land of negative. And it is the first time that crude crashed into negative territory.

Monday’s wild market action

Brimming storage tanks signal extreme disconnect between supply and demand due to coronavirus-led economic slowdown. The present demand for crude oil is at a standstill. Here’re three actions that describe the market condition.

Selling Frenzy

The May contract of West Texas Intermediate crude’s front-month contract closed at a more than $50-a-barrel discount to the June contract. And it is the biggest discount on record. It could be due to the traders rushing to sell the May contract ahead of its expiration on Tuesday.

Wild Swings

Tariq Zahir, a commodity fund manager at Tyche Capital Advisors LLC commented on the falling crude oil prices to negative zone. He said that oil prices in their opinion had nowhere to go but lower from there on the June contract. He further maintained that the demand wasn’t coming back anytime soon. They would have a massive glut to work off for months to come.

Mega Moves

The United States Oil Fund, that is the biggest exchange-traded fund tracking crude, witnessed enhanced activity after the Monday market crash. Last week, investors poured more than $1.6 billion into the fund and exchanged over $3 billion on Monday. It was the highest traded value since the inception of the fund.

Source: https://bit.ly/3arVrqu

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Business Media & Entertainment

Traders Ask To Extend Lockdown To April 30 But With Relief Package

HT News

Confederation of All India Traders (CAT) stands with the government in the time of COVID-19 spread. National General Secretary of CAT, Pravin Khandelwal, wrote to the PM to extend the lockdown period to April 30.

CAT supports extension of lockdown

A survey conducted among traders and business leaders of various states, the business community said that they want the lockdown to be extended beyond the 21-day period. They said that the current situation of novel coronavirus spread demands stricter measures to contain the spread of the deadly disease. And the business community was unanimous in the decision to extend the lockdown period.

The CAT assured that the traders would leave no stone unturned to deal with the virus. Also, the confederation assured the PM that India would be victorious in its fight against the spread of novel coronavirus.

Challenges ahead

In a letter to the PM the confederation mentioned the hardships that the small and medium scale traders would have to face in the fight against the pandemic. The lockdown period would result in slowdown of business resulting in big losses. But the increasing number of coronavirus cases demand strict measures to control the spread. Despite the hardships, the merchant class stood with the country in containing the virus spread, said the letter.

Pravin Khandelwal sent memorandum

Pravin Khandelwal wrote in the letter that he had already sent a memorandum to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman seeking financial relief for the merchants of India.

Source: https://bit.ly/2JP71kr

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Business

Oil Industry Faces Demand Crash In April

HT News

The oil is an all time low this month and this unparalleled demand destruction could transform the industry for years to come. The energy analysts anticipate that daily consumption of oil will plummet by 15 million to 22 million barrels in April in comparison to the demand last year.

Demand destruction in oil sector

In a March note, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said that shutting down the demand would have large scale and persistent ramifications to supply. Goldman anticipates a surge of 20 billion barrels a day in storage tanks in April. And HIS Markit predicts that the world will run out of storage space for oil in middle of the year.

April is predicted to be the worst ever month for global demand for jet fuel. According to industry consultant FGE forecasts American, the gasoline consumption could plunge by 50% in comparison to the last year. And Energy Aspects Ltd. predicts the global benchmark Brent crude to drop by $10 a barrel, a level not seen in more than two decades.

Aftereffects of April crash in oil

The April crash will be start of a second bleak quarter for the industry and the experts fear that it could send some producers to go to the extent of destabilizing governments in many OPEC countries. But there is a positive side of the crash in oil demand. It will help achieve the energy restructuring so badly needed according to Goldman.

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Business

Tom Aspray Explains Features Of A Bear Market Rally

HT News

Tom Aspray said that sharp rebounds were always to be expected during bear markets. He said it in the context of his recent discussion on the 1987 market crash and past bear markets. But his focus was to highlight the six-day rally that took the S&P 500 up 19% from the lows that started on October 28, 2008.

Result of the six-day rally

During the first rally in 2008 bear market, the press said that the market was in the process of establishing a bottom. But the S&P 500 was making a new low even seven days after the rally. The market commentators delivered similar comment after the last week’s three-day rally. But Tom Aspray wasn’t convinced with those comments.

Tom’s vision of bear markets

He said that it is necessary to acknowledge and navigate bear market rallies in order to understand the bear markets. He gave example of Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) that witnessed a high of $192.72 at last Thursday’s high point. Tom said that it was just a few cents above the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement resistance at $192.64.

He further said that on Thursday, Nasdaq 100 Advance/Decline line closed above its Weighted Market Average (WMA) but it reversed on Friday. The QQQ closed 3.4% the very next day. He raised a question that was had the rally already over.

But all wasn’t over. He said that the bear market followed a type of continuation pattern with a brief pause in the major trend. Since the world entered the bear market, it would see severalbear market rallies.

Source: https://bit.ly/2xvV7JE

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Business International

IMF Projects Recovery From Recession In 2021

HT News

International Monetary Fund (IMF) said that the world had entered a recession due to the coronavirus pandemic.But the IMF projects a recovery next year.

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said that they have reassessed the prospects for growth for 2020 and 2021. It was clear that the world had entered a recession as bad or worse than in 2009. Also, they projected recovery in 2021.

Recovery from COVID-19 in 2021

IMF managing director emerged from the meeting of the governing body of IMF and Financial Committee that represent 189 members. The meeting was to discuss the unprecedented challenge posed by COVID-19.

She said that the key to recovery was only if the international community succeeded in containing the virus and prevent liquidity problems. The US was in recession, as was the rest of the advanced economies of the world. Also, the developing economies were in recession. They were working on their projections for 2020 said Georgieva in the answer to a question.

Georgieva stressed the need for virus containment for the economy to stand still. She said that containment was very necessary to come out of this phase. Also, she highlighted the key concern of the long-lasting impact of the sudden stop of the world economy.

She said that there was a risk of bankruptcies and layoffs that not only could undermine the recovery but also could erode the fabric of the society. She further said that many countries had started taking measures like addressing their healthcare and cushion their economies to mitigate the effect of recession.

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Business News & Politics

Yes Bank Proposed Raising Rs. 5,000 Crore Through Institutional Planning

HT News

The board of directors of Yes Bank approved the proposal of raising Rs. 5,000 crore in a meeting. The said amount will be raised through institutional planning and sale of shares through rights issues. Also, this amount will be in addition to the Rs. 10,000 crore sanctioned on February 7.

Yes Bank informed stock market about its plan

The bank intimated the stock market about the decision of raising Rs. 5,000 crore through a notice. The notice was sent to get approval of the stock market. The bank could get funds in installments. Also, it can take any route like right issue, public issue and eligible institutional planning to achieve the objective.

Yes Bank getting help

Investors are taking interest in Yes Bank after the State Bank of India lend a helping to the beleaguered Yes Bank. Also, the Federal Bank has proposed an investment of Rs. 300 crore to help the troubled bank sail through the difficult times. According to an arrangement, the Federal Bank will own 30 crore shares of Yes Bank at a cost of Rs. 10 per equity share of Yes Bank.

Source: https://bit.ly/2xsrhpm

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Business

Eurozone Finance Ministers Were Not Unanimous About Policy Decision

HT News

Eurozone finance ministers failed to agree on any common or coordinated fiscal action to the crisis created by coronavirus pandemic. But they met only to promise a strong economic policy response to the alarming situation.

Statement by Eurogroup of ministers

After a length discussion in a conference hall, the group said that it welcomed the measures already taken by other European institutions mainly the European Central Bank, the European Commission and individual states. But the group remained silent on their plan, if the crisis over the European economy deepens.

Paolo Gentiloni, the European Commissioner in charge of economic matters, indirectly accepted the failure of the meeting by saying that the meeting set the right tone for a coordinated policy response by the institutions and member states.

Eurozone bailout fund role in economic crisis

The ministers have different views on the role that the European Stability Mechanism (ESM)can play in the event of the financial crisis shaking the monetary union to its core. The members countries weren’t unanimous on the rules that will govern its actions.

The ESM is governed by its founding members and it frames its conditions for taking action when a country asks for aid. Klaus Regling, the head of ESM, said that the institution was sitting on around €410 billion of unused lending capacity and it is about 4% if the eurozone’s GDP.

Investors and general public in Europe were expecting a more massive fiscal response to the crisis but they were disappointed by the eurozone’s inability to arrive at a significant decision.

Source: https://on.mktw.net/2x8tVjF

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