At 7.40 am, SGX Nifty was ruling 15 points lower at 14,931. India in the last 24 hours reported the highest single-day spike of 1.31 lakh new Covid-19 cases. In the last four of the five days this week, India has reported cases of over 1 lakh. This comes at a time when several states are flagging vaccine shortages, risking the pace of India s inoculation programme. Taking stock of the Covid situation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday urged state governments to test more even if that meant higher reporting of the infection and to avoid lockdowns. Armed with the experience of managing the first wave, better health infrastructure and a locally manufactured vaccine, lockdowns should be avoided altogether, the PM told chief ministers at the virtual meet on Covid.
Commentary: The solution for yield-seeking allocators may be hiding in plain sight
Greg Shea and Steven Kindred
Greg Shea and Steven Kindred
In mid-March 2020, the yield on the 10-year Treasury dipped below 1%. The benchmark rate hasn t exceeded 3% for more than two years and is likely to stay low for the foreseeable future after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell effectively ruled out hikes until at least 2023. This persistent downward pressure on rates has led institutional investors to increase allocations to income-generating assets such as levered loans and real estate to achieve the returns needed to meet long-term obligations, typically about 7% annually.
The International Monetary Fund has authorised a USD 650 billion expansion of the 190-nation lending institution s resources with the aim of providing more support for vulnerable countries as they battle the coronavirus pandemic.
IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva on Thursday said the USD 650 billion increase in reserves is the largest in IMF history. The move will provide badly needed reserves for poor countries struggling with deep recessions caused by the pandemic and the need to obtain and administer millions of doses of vaccines, she said. By comparison, to combat the global recession that followed the 2008 financial crisis, the IMF agreed to an increase of USD 250 billion in the IMF s reserves of what are known at the agency as Special Drawing Rights.
Stocks Pause Near Record; U.S. Futures Edge Higher: Markets Wrap
Bloomberg 1 hr ago Emily Barrett
(Bloomberg) Global stocks traded around record levels Friday after a Wall Street rally on Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s assurance that the central bank can reinvigorate the economy without stoking painful inflation.
Concerns about price pressures were apparent in China, where data showed the fastest factory inflation since 2018. Sliding Chinese stocks weighed on an Asia-Pacific share gauge. U.S. equity futures climbed, with Nasdaq 100 contracts outperforming, after the S&P 500 notched an all-time high amid low volumes on U.S. exchanges. European equity futures fluctuated.