Rise With Profit: Jerome Powell On US Economy, OPEC Meeting, Vodafone Divestment | Podcast

This is the daily morning update from NDTV Profit and I’m Alex Mathew. Here’s everything you need to know at the start of the day.

Listen to this as a podcast here.

US equity markets were buoyant overnight, with the three benchmarks hitting record highs, after comments by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. At a New York Times event yesterday, he said that the US economy was stronger than it appeared in September, when the central bank began cutting interest rates.

In fact, he said that there was no reason for the positive trends in the economy to not continue. The downside risks appear to be less in the labour market and growth is stronger than anticipated, even if inflation came in a little higher, according to the Fed chair. He said that all of that means the Fed can afford to be a little more cautious as it tries to find neutral.

There’s more data on the US economy that came through overnight— services sector activity slowed in November after posting big gains in recent months, according to a Reuters report.

The Institute for Supply Management survey also showed that businesses are concerned about potential tariffs on imports from President-elect Donald Trump's incoming administration, because this could lead to higher prices.

In more news from overseas, French lawmakers passed a no-confidence vote against the government yesterday. This comes at a time when Europe’s biggest economies, including France, are struggling with growth and other fiscal problems.

Far-right and left-wing lawmakers joined forces to back a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Michel Barnier, with a majority 331 votes in support of the motion, according to reports.

Meanwhile, business activity across the euro zone fell sharply last month as the bloc's dominant services sector joined the manufacturing sector in contracting, according to a survey which showed a broadbased decline.

We’ve been keeping an eye on crude prices all of this week. Today, of course, is the scheduled meeting of the OPEC+ and its allies to decide on whether to postpone a supply increase to align with weaker demand trends. As of this morning, Brent crude was trading at below $73 to the barrel.

In the Asia Pacific region, markets seem to have shrugged off concerns about the political situation in South Korea. Two of the three early risers were trading positive. The Kospi in South Korea was lower by about a quarter of a percent last I checked.

In news back home, UK's Vodafone Group Plc will divest its entire 3% stake in Indus Towers via open market deals. It will offload 7.9 crore shares that are held by its local affiliates Omega Telecom Holdings and Usha Martin Telematics.

Based on Indus Tower's last closing price of Rs 358.75, the transaction value is expected to be around Rs 2,841 crore. The proceeds from the divestment will be used firstly to repay Vodafone's outstanding borrowings of around $101 million to existing lenders, secured against Vodafone's Indian assets, according to a stock exchange filing in London.

And finally, Torrent Pharmaceuticals Ltd. has signed an agreement with Boehringer Ingelheim International to acquire three anti-diabetes brands. The acquisition will be completed by March 2025, according to an exchange filing. Torrent has promoted these brands since 2022 under a co-marketing agreement.

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