Good morning!
This is the daily morning update from NDTV Profit and I'm Alex Mathew. Over the next few minutes, we'll bring you up to speed with everything you need to know, so you can start your day on the right foot.
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Lots of updates to give you on the US economy. First, on inflation: consumer spending increased a little more than expected in October, and that indicates that while progress has been made to bring inflation into a lower trajectory, it is proving stubborn as things stand.
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This seeming inability by the Federal Reserve to curtail inflation and bring it down to the 2% target and the anticipation that Donald Trump's tariffs in the new year will have an inflationary impact and will make the central bank more cautious on rate cuts.
Inflation as measured by the change in the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index was higher at 2.3% in October compared with 2.1% in September. The number that will give Fed officials more to think about though, is the core PCE index, which removes the impact of food and fuel. That number stood at 2.8% in October, up from 2.7% in September.
Meanwhile, the US economy expanded at a solid pace in the third quarter, largely powered by this broad-based increase in consumer spending. The GDP increased at a 2.8% annualised pace in the third quarter, according to the second estimate of the figures from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
And finally, jobless claims in the US fell again last week, but many laid-off workers are remaining jobless for long periods. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 213,000 for the week ended Nov. 23, according to the Labor Department.
US stocks ended lower overnight ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday. The Dow and S&P 500 dropped 0.3% and 0.4%, while Nasdaq has dropped 0.6%. The US markets will be shut today and tomorrow for the holiday. And it's a mixed start to trade in the Asia Pacific region, with two of the three early risers starting in the green.
BJP To Get CM Post In Maharashtra
Back home, politics continues to dominate headlines. NDTV has reported that the Bharatiya Janata Party will get the post of chief minister of Maharashtra, while allies Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party will get the roles of deputy chief ministers. The Mahayuti, which secured a thumping victory in last week's Maharashtra assembly election, has seen internal wrangling over the post of chief minister. The Shiv Sena has been demanding Eknath Shinde retain his role.
Amid the speculations, Shinde, who is presently the state's caretaker chief minister, said he is fully supporting the BJP. He told a press briefing earlier in the day that he will abide by the decision that Prime Minister Narendra Modi takes on the the next Maharashtra chief minister.
In other news, the Civil Aviation Ministry has carried out a thorough analysis of airfare trends over the past eight quarters, as part of its ongoing review of the recent increase in ticket prices, according to top government officials. The review identified significant increases, particularly in domestic business class fares. While other classes have not shown alarming trends so far, the government will continue to monitor the fares closely to determine the appropriate actions that need to be taken.
Godrej Properties QIP
Godrej Properties Ltd. on Wednesday has set the floor price for its qualified institutional placement. The company is looking to raise Rs 4,000 crore through the QIP, Bloomberg reported, citing terms of the deal. The company fixed a floor price of Rs 2,727.44 apiece to issue equity shares of face value of Rs 5 each, according to its exchange filing. The floor price is at a discount of nearly 4% to Wednesday's closing price.
Biden's Parting Present
And finally in some more international news, Reuters has reported that US President Joe Biden's administration is preparing a $725 million weapons package for Ukraine, as the outgoing president seeks to bolster the government in Kyiv before leaving office in January.
According to an official familiar with the plan, the Biden administration plans to provide a variety of anti-tank weapons from US stocks to blunt Russia's advancing troops, including land mines, drones, Stinger missiles and ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems.
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