NDTV Profit Pulse On June 23 — Top 8 Stories At 8 P.M. Under 8 Minutes

Among the top stories today is the possible derailment of FMCG earnings amid spiking crude oil prices. Meanwhile, founder of the Infravision Foundation, Vinayak Chatterjee, bets big on the private sector for furthering India's ambitious nuclear energy capacity plans.

In global headlines, two supertankers Coswisdom Lake and South Loyalty headed through the Hormuz shipping strait. Walmart is preparing for its unit Phonepe's maiden offering in India, eyeing a $1.5 billion offer, as per Bloomberg's sources.

Here’s a quick roundup of today’s key headlines:

A public interest litigation has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking suspension of Air India's Boeing fleet within two weeks, pending a comprehensive security and safety audit, reported NDTV. This follows the fatal crash in Ahmedabad on June 12 that killed at least 270 people.

A sudden spike in crude oil prices, triggered by escalating Iran-Israel tensions, threatens to derail the fragile recovery of India’s fast-moving consumer goods sector. Just as manufacturers began breathing easier with stabilising input costs, the sharp rise in oil prices is now poised to inflate packaging and freight expenses. This has forced companies to warn of impending price hikes on everyday essentials.

Around half of the country's nuclear energy will come from private sector in the future, said Vinayak Chatterjee, founder and managing trustee of The Infravision Foundation, as he called for the need to develop small modular reactors. India needs SMR technology and infrastructure to achieve its long-term goal of increasing nuclear power's share in its energy mix, Chatterjee said.

Wall Street slumped on Monday following the latest developments in the Israel-Iran conflict and the US' involvement in the war. The Dow Jones Industrial slumped about 0.17% just after the opening bell. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite declined 0.42% points. The S&P 500 was flat and stayed above 5,970 points.

Supertankers Coswisdom Lake and South Loyalty headed through the Hormuz shipping strait after having changed courses abruptly as war tensions loom. The two vessels’ movements into the world’s most important oil-producing region come as shipbrokers and others in the oil tanker market report a cautious willingness to enter the stretch of water that’s pivotal to the global oil trade.

The US has introduced a new rule requiring all applicants for F, M, or J non-immigrant visas to set the privacy settings on their personal social media accounts to 'public'. The move is aimed at strengthening identity verification and vetting under US immigration law and is effective immediately.

The continuing rise in oil prices is unlikely to dent India's macroeconomic fundamentals, despite rising risks to outlook. The impact on growth and inflation is expected to remain limited so far, though monetary policy could remain on pause amidst an evolving geopolitical scenario. Brent crude was at striking distance of $80 a barrel in recent sessions, amidst the Iran-Israel conflict. This is the highest since January this year.

Walmart Inc.’s PhonePe, India’s largest provider of digital payments, is preparing to file preliminary documents for an initial public offering that may raise as much as $1.5 billion, according to people familiar with the matter to Bloomberg. The deal would value the fintech company at about $15 billion, and PhonePe is planning to submit a draft red herring prospectus for the listing by as early as August, the people said.