Latest Stock Market News

Policy makers led by Chair Jerome Powell voted 8-1 to lift their key rate to a target range of 0.25% to 0.5%, the first increase since 2018, after two years of holding borrowing costs near zero to cushion the economy from the pandemic.

The S&P 500 index briefly erased its gains on the decision before rebounding after Powell played down the risk of a recession and declared the economy strong enough to withstand tighter policy. It closed over 2% higher.

Powell left the door well open to that possibility, saying repeatedly that if inflation did not cool off as expected, the Fed would accelerate its rate hikes.

The latest Hurun rich list showed that of the 3,381 billionaires globally, 249 are either Indian or of Indian origin. Of these, 215 reside in India. The report also showed that Mukesh Ambani continued to be the richest Asian with a net worth of $103 billion and is the only Indian in the global top 10.

The Fed is acting at a tense moment for many consumers and investors. Here is a look at what happened, and what it is likely to mean for markets and the economy.

Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has bought as much as 3 million barrels of crude oil that Russia had offered at a steep discount to prevailing international rates, sources said.

Treasury yields eased a little after spiking to nearly three-year highs overnight - with shorter-end yields rising more to flatten the curve - after the Fed raised the policy rate for the first time since 2018. The Fed increased rates by an as-expected quarter point and telegraphed equivalent hikes at every meeting for the remainder of this year to aggressively stamp out inflation.

The average 12-month price target among nine analysts covering Paytm is Rs 1,203, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

“Cement does have a long term growth prospect, especially after the Budget which continued with the capex theme but in the near term, we could see some margin pressure in the earnings. Nonetheless, from a one-year perspective, some of the select cement stocks would do well. Our preferred picks would be UltraTech and Dalmia Bharat.”

The global cryptocurrency market cap rose to $1.82 trillion, up 1.42 per cent over the last 24 hours. Total cryptocurrency trading volume jumped 23 per cent to $100.11 billion, as per Coinmarketcap.