Volumes in F&O segment to shrink as peak margin rules kick in today

 

Zerodha expects F&O volumes to be impacted by 20-30%; new norms aimed at discouraging leveraged bets

Volumes in the futures and options (F&O) segment are expected to shrink by a third in the coming months as the new peak margin norms come into effect from Tuesday. The F&O segment contributes about 90 per cent to the overall market volumes, nearly half of which is intra-day and heavily reliant on excess leverage.

The maximum intra-day leverage that can be offered by a broker will now be restricted and will keep reducing until September 1, 2021. After this, a broker can provide maximum leverage that is equal to SPAN+exposure for the F&O segment and VaR+ELM (minimum 20 per cent) for the cash segment.

SPAN is standard portfolio analysis of risk, VAR is value at risk, and ELM is extreme risk margin — metrics used to determine the risk to investment for a particular security.

“As leverages decrease, F&O volumes are likely to take a hit. At Zerodha, we expect volumes to be impacted by 20-30 per cent in the coming months. Brokerages that were aggressive in doling out intra-day leverages will be impacted the most,” said Nithin Kamath, CEO, Zerodha, the country’s largest broker by active clients.

So far, brokers only reported margins at the end of the day, which is why they were able to give additional leverage even if the client didn’t have minimum margins. This was on the condition that the position will be squared off before the end of the day. Going forward, there will be a short-margin penalty if brokers fail to secure the minimum margin for intra-day positions.

“Sebi (Securities and Exchange Board of India) has effectively capped the exposure that’s possible in derivatives to 4 times margin in phase 1. And this will impact retail options volumes, especially for options writers on expiry days, which account for large volumes on the last Thursday of every month,” said Sandip Raichura, CEO (retail), Prabhudas Lilladher.

US vote recount: Arizona, Wisconsin certify Biden's victory over Trump

 

Two battleground states of Arizona and Wisconsin formally certified Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden as the winner.

Two battleground states of Arizona and Wisconsin on Monday formally certified Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden as the winner.

Incumbent Donald Trump had won both the states in 2016.
In Wisconsin, Biden won by 20,700 votes against Trump, who has refused to concede the election results so far. He alleges that there were massive voters' fraud and electoral malpractice.

Certifying the result, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers said, Today, I carried out my duty to certify the November 3rd election, and as required by state and federal law, I've signed the Certificate of Ascertainment for the slate of electors for President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.

The formal certification from Wisconsin came a day after the state completed the recounting of votes in two of its counties as requested by Trump.

Earlier in the day, Arizona, which traditionally has been a Republican stronghold, also certified Biden as the winner with more than 10,000 votes.

Arizona has 11 members in the Electoral College. Biden now has 306 Electoral College votes against Trump's 232.

Every Arizona voter has my thanks and should know that they can stand proud that this election was conducted with transparency, accuracy and fairness in accordance with Arizona's laws and elections procedures despite numerous unfounded claims to the contrary," Arizona Governor Dough Hobbs said.

 

Play old Sony PlayStation games on new Microsoft Xbox series S and X

 

Microsoft will not love this news but developers have emulated old Sony PlayStation games onto the new Microsoft Xbox Series X and S gaming consoles

Microsoft will not love this news but developers have emulated old Sony PlayStation games onto the new Microsoft Xbox Series X and S gaming consoles.

Using a technology called RetroArch emulator, developers worked on the "Developer Mode" in Xbox Series X/S gaming consoles which can help add the emulation software as a Universal Windows Application (UWA).

It allows users to download a retail version of the emulation software directly to their gaming console, reports The Verge.

Microsoft doesn't officially support this kind of emulation and PCSX2 support is still in progress.

To add RetroArch to Xbox using Developer Mod, one needs to pay a $19 registration fee to be part of Microsoft's Developer programme.

They can then download the "Dev mode activation" app from the Xbox store.

Once the app is downloaded, one can connect to your Xbox from a web browser using your local network and add the RetroArch UWA files.

However, the newly-launched Sony PlayStation 5 does not offer this functionality. The new gaming console is only natively backwards compatible with PlayStation 4 games.

Sony only offers the option to play PS3 and PS2 games using its PS Now game streaming service.

Sony has confirmed to refill its PlayStation 5 stock by the end of the year after the newly-launched gaming consoles were sold out in its biggest launch ever.

 

India sees largest drop in malaria cases in south-east Asia between 2000-19

 

India made strong progress in the fight against malaria, recording the largest reduction in cases in South-East Asia from 20 million in 2000 to about 5.6 million last year, WHO said

India made strong progress in the fight against malaria, recording the largest reduction in cases in South-East Asia from 20 million in 2000 to about 5.6 million last year, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said.

The World Malaria Report 2020, released Monday, said that in 2019, malaria cases globally numbered about 229 million, an annual estimate that has remained virtually unchanged over the last four years.

Last year, the disease claimed about 409,000 lives, compared to 411,000 in 2018.

"Countries in South-East Asia made particularly strong progress, with reductions in cases and deaths of 73 per cent and 74 per cent, respectively. India contributed to the largest drop in cases region-wide from approximately 20 million to about 6 million, WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in the report's forward.

The report said that the WHO South-East Asia Region accounted for about 3 per cent of the burden of malaria cases globally.

Malaria cases reduced by 73 per cent in the region, from 23 million in 2000 to about 6.3 million in 2019.

WHO noted the impressive gains made by India in the fight against malaria, with reductions in cases and deaths of 18 per cent and 20 per cent, respectively, over the last 2 years?

India also recorded decrease in number of deaths from malaria between 2000 and 2019.

Malaria deaths in India declined from about 29,500 in 2000 to about 7700 last year, the report said.

Goldilocks year awaits emerging markets defying Covid-19 pandemic rout

 

Underpinning the recovery is a resurgence in foreign-investor interest.

Emerging-market investors seem to have everything going for them right now, with the November rally offering a hint of what 2021 may have in store.

A plethora of tailwinds from accommodative central banks to an impending change of U.S. president and Covid-19 vaccine progress has put the assets of developing nations on course for some impressive milestones. Bonds have wiped out their year-to-date losses, while MSCI Inc.’s currency index is poised for the best month since January 2019 as well as a second successive annual gain. The MSCI stocks gauge is on track for its best month since March 2016.

Underpinning the recovery is a resurgence in foreign-investor interest. Fourth-quarter portfolio inflows to emerging markets are poised to hit the highest in eight years, data from the Institute of International Finance show. Yet, for all the euphoria, foreign positioning in bonds and equities for developing nations excluding China remains light, and Deutsche Bank AG’s Sameer Goel, says the rally is far from over.

“It’s Goldilocks for emerging markets’ under-invested assets as we go into 2021,” said Goel, the bank’s head of emerging markets macro research in Singapore. They “have considerable cyclical catch-up potential.”

Deutsche Bank isn’t alone in seeing further gains. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. have made bullish calls on the asset class in recent weeks. UBS Group AG said last week emerging-market assets may benefit from the prospect of “near-complete normalization” in global economic mobility by the end of next year.

 

As China halts imports, India's craft beer craze may rescue Aussie barley

 

With India's population growing by 15 million per year, the industry will need to make an additional 2 million hectoliters between 2019-24 -- or 80 Olympic swimming pools worth, Bloomberg Intelligence

Australian barley growers could soon be raising a glass to India’s swelling cohort of beer drinkers, who are being eyed as a potential market for some of the country’s excess stocks of the grain, after its biggest buyer China all but halted imports this year.

While India’s beer market was only worth about $7.4 billion last year -- a fraction of the U.S.’s $105.4 trillion market, according to Euromonitor research -- the sheer pace of population growth there, coupled with an increasing thirst for craft beer among younger and wealthier cohorts, means it has the potential to grow into one of the world’s largest consumers of the beverage.

Operations at the Great State Ale Works Craft Brewery as India's Taste for Beer Gives Australia’s Barley Growers Hope

A brewer tests beer at the Great State Ale Works craft brewery in Pune, on Nov. 27.

“There’s a lot of business interest in the beer industry. There’s a lot of investment coming in slowly,” said Nakul Bhonsle, owner of Great State Aleworks, a microbrewery based in Pune, in India’s west. “As the younger generation grows older, there’s a drastic shift from hard liquor to beer and wine. So that shift will help us.”

With India’s population growing by 15 million per year, the industry will need to make an additional 2 million hectoliters between 2019-24 -- or 80 Olympic swimming pools worth, Bloomberg Intelligence predicts.

Any additional demand from brewers would be a boon for Australian barley prices, which slumped to among the cheapest in the world following China’s decision to apply 80% tariffs as trade tensions between the two countries escalated. Without the China demand, exporters have been forced to price their premium grain at levels similar to lower-quality barley used in animal feed to remain competitive.

 

UK bans new Huawei 5G network installation from September next year

 

British telecommunications firms must not install new Huawei 5G kit after September 2021, the government said, as part of a plan to purge the Chinese firm's equipment from high speed mobile networks.

LONDON (Reuters) - British telecommunications firms must not install new Huawei 5G kit after September 2021, the government said on Monday, as part of a plan to purge the Chinese firm's equipment from high speed mobile networks.

Britain has already ordered all Huawei equipment to be removed from its 5G network by the end of 2027, falling in line with intelligence allies including the United States who say the firm poses security risks.

China has criticised that decision, while Huawei said last week it was disappointed Britain was looking to exclude it from the 5G roll-out after the publication of new laws that could see firms fined 100,000 pounds ($133,140) if they break the ban.

Monday's announcement comes ahead of a debate over new telecoms legislation in parliament and fleshes out the timeline for equipment removal.

"I am setting out a clear path for the complete removal of high-risk vendors from our 5G networks," digital minister Oliver Dowden said in a statement.

"This will be done through new and unprecedented powers to identify and ban telecoms equipment which poses a threat to our national security."

The government also announced a new strategy to diversify the 5G supply chain, consisting of an initial 250-million-pound investment, trials in collaboration with Japanese firm NEC and the establishment of new research facilities.

Britain has already banned the buying new Huawei 5G kit after the end of the year.

Britain said its July decision was related to concerns that U.S. sanctions on chip technology could affect supply lines. Huawei said at the time the decision was disappointing, and about U.S. trade policy rather than security.

Presidential elections 2020 were probably least secure polls ever: Trump

 

The November 3 presidential elections were probably the least secure American polls ever, US President Donald Trump alleged, a repeated claim which has found very few takers.

The November 3rd presidential elections were probably the least secure American polls ever, US President Donald Trump alleged Sunday, a repeated claim which has found very few takers and has, so far, not been able to stand legal scrutiny.

Our 2020 Election, from poorly rated Dominion to a Country FLOODED with unaccounted for Mail-In ballots, was probably our least secure EVER! Trump said in a tweet on a day the recount of votes in two Wisconsin counties witnessed President-elect Joe Biden maintain his lead over the incumbent.

We have some big things happening in our various litigations on the Election Hoax. Everybody knows it was Rigged. They know Biden didn't get more votes from the Black community than Obama, & certainly didn't get 80,000,000 votes. Look what happened in Detroit, Philadelphia, plus! Trump alleged in another tweet.

Earlier in his first post-election result interview, Trump told Fox News the entire world is watching over what is happening in the US. I have to start by saying the whole world is watching, and nobody can believe what they're seeing.

And you have leaders of countries that call me, say, that's the most messed-up election we have ever seen. You start with these machines that have been suspected, not allowed to be used in Texas, the Dominion machines, where tremendous reports have been put out, Trump said.

We have affidavits on -- from many people talking about what went on with machines. They had glitches. You know what a glitch is. A glitch is supposed to be when a machine breaks down. Well, no, we had glitches where they moved thousands of votes from my account to Biden's account.

 

L&T shipyard completes order for 54 fast interceptor boats ahead of time

 

The FICs delivered to the Coast Guard are 90-tonne vessels that can patrol the coastline at a scorching speed of 45 knots

In an emphatic statement of warship building capability in the private sector, Larsen & Toubro’s Hazira shipyard handed over the last vessel in an order of 54 fast interceptor craft to the Coast Guard on Sunday — ahead of time and within the budget.

With the four public sector shipyards — Mazagon Dock, Mumbai; Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers, Kolkata; Goa Shipyard; and Hindustan Shipyard, Visakhapatnam — invariably delivering warships years behind schedule and beyond budget, L&T has staked a powerful claim to be considered for future shipbuilding orders.

The FICs delivered to the Coast Guard are 90-tonne vessels that can patrol the coastline at a scorching speed of 45 knots (83 kilometres per hour). L&T has built the 54 vessels for just under Rs 1,500 crore.

L&T is now contending strongly for a number of naval contracts.

The biggest of these, which will indicate how serious the defence ministry is about bringing in the private sector into defence production, is for building six New Generation Missile Vessels (NGMVs) for an estimated Rs 13,600 crore. Multiple shipyards submitted bids in February in response to the navy’s Request for Proposals (RfP).

Earlier this month, L&T and other shipyards submitted bids for building three Cadet Training Vessels — a contract worth an estimated Rs 2,700 crore.

In June, several shipyards, including L&T, submitted bids in a contract, worth about Rs 700 crore, for two Multi-Purpose Vessels (MPVs) for the navy.

 

 

Delaying production? OPEC plots next move amid seismic oil market divide

 

The east-west divide is an added conundrum for OPEC+, which on Monday and Tuesday needs to decide whether to delay a production increase slated for January -- and if so, for how long.

As OPEC+ ministers gather virtually this week, the city that traditionally hosts their meetings will be locked down. Vienna’s Christmas markets will be closed, the famous Ringstrasse boulevard silent. For oil ministers, the scene should urge caution.

But while the Austrian capital provides a dramatic example of how the second wave of the pandemic is shutting down economies in Europe and the U.S., the global picture is more nuanced.

In Asia, the situation is almost the opposite to that of Vienna. The streets in India were full during the recent celebration of Diwali; China’s Golden Week holiday saw millions take cars, trains and even planes to visit relatives across the country.

The east-west divide is an added conundrum for OPEC+, which on Monday and Tuesday needs to decide whether to delay a production increase slated for January -- and if so, for how long. Informal talks on Sunday failed to yield an agreement.

As well as the geographical split, there’s another crucial divide in the global oil market: while gasoline and diesel demand have recovered to about 90% of their normal level, consumption of jet fuel languishes at about 50%.

“The size of the shock and the unevenness of its impacts imply a recovery process which is far from smooth,” said Bassam Fattouh, the head of the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies.

 

Biden intends to nominate Indian-American Tanden as budget chief: Reports

 

US President-elect Joe Biden intends to nominate Indian-American Neera Tanden as the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, according to local media reports.

US President-elect Joe Biden intends to nominate Indian-American Neera Tanden as the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, a top position inside the White House responsible for managing the administration's budget, according to local media reports on Sunday.

If confirmed by the United States Senate, Tanden (50) would be the first woman of color to head the influential Office of Management and Budget at the White House. Tanden is currently chief executive of the left-leaning Center for American Progress.

Tanden's nomination is a part of Joe Biden plan to build a team of liberal and centrist economic advisers to serve alongside planned Treasury Secretary nominee Janet Yellen, The Wall Street Journal said.

Nomination of Tanden, Yellen and others are expected to be announced soon, multiple news reports said.

Cecilia Rouse, a Princeton University labor economist, is likely to be named the chairwoman of Council of Economic Advisers. Rouse, an African-American, would be the first woman of color to chair the council, which will play a key role in advising the president on the economy, which has been ailing since the coronavirus pandemic struck the country, throwing tens of millions out of work, The Washington Post said.

Biden also plans to nominate Adewale Wally Adeyemo, as Deputy Treasury Secretary and name Jared Bernstein and Heather Boushey as members of his Council of Economic Advisors. The announcement is likely to be made on Tuesday.

 

 

As Abu Dhabi ups its game, will the attempt to lure Indian tourists work?

 

Abu Dhabi plans to leverage the opportunity when the world's largest global trade exhibition is hosted in Dubai next October

For many Indians, Abu Dhabi is a poor country cousin compared to glitzy Dubai. But the staid capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is aiming to shed this image to become a favoured tourist destination.

A little over an hour's drive from Dubai, Abu Dhabi usually draws tourists on day visits. But next year, as travel picks up, it hopes to have upped its game enough to get them to stay at least overnight — and preferably for a few days. To achieve this, it has finalised a two-pronged strategy to attract tourists, a good number of them from India.

First is a marketing focus on a myriad offering. Abu Dhabi has been investing billions of dollars to build its tourism infrastructure. Many landmarks — including two global art and culture museums, the region’s largest aquarium, the biggest multi-purpose indoor facility in the Emirates and a beachfront club — will be inaugurated between year-end and 2021.

Second, it plans to leverage the opportunity when the world’s largest global trade exhibition is hosted in Dubai next October (it was postponed this year). Over 25 million visitors, including many from India, are expected to attend the event.

India remains Abu Dhabi’s top international source market, says Saeed Al Saeed, destination marketing director, Department of Culture & Tourism (DCT), Abu Dhabi. “In 2019, we welcomed 450,000 Indian tourists, registering a 12 per cent year-on-year increase in visitors from the country. We aim to further engage the Indian market and cater to the requirements of Indians through new offerings, travel packages and exclusive experiences.”

The Abu Dhabi numbers are, however, nowhere near the two million Indians who visited Dubai in 2019, accounting for about 12 per cent of the city’s tourist arrivals. Thanks to liberal quarantine rules, Dubai is the most travelled destination for tourists since the lockdown was partially lifted in India. In October, as many as 31,400 people flew to Dubai from Delhi. Less than 1,000 of them visited Abu Dhabi, which follows a 14-day quarantine rule. Saeed is hopeful this rule will be relaxed soon

 

Why an economy-wide net-zero emission target won't work for India

 

China waited to strong growth trajectory before pledging to reach net-zero emissions but India is about 15-20 years behind China in terms of development.

India will not only meet its climate commitments but is also set to overachieve, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on November 22, 2020, speaking at a side event at the 15th summit of the G20 countries.
The announcement came just days after the United States, the world’s second largest emitter, elected Joe Biden as its next President, who has avowed net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Biden promptly appointed John Kerry--a former diplomat instrumental in getting the US to sign on the Paris Agreement back in 2015--as his climate envoy. Just weeks ago, China, the world's largest emitter, had announced that it would achieve net-zero emissions by 2060. [What is net-zero carbon emissions? See box]

This has turned the spotlight on India--the world’s third largest emitter of climate change-inducing carbon dioxide (CO2).

PM Modi's speech was underwhelming for some climate researchers, who saw it as yet another proof of India’s hesitation to aim high. India’s global climate strategy has always been about under-promising and over-delivering, said Vaibhav Chaturvedi, fellow with the think-tank Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW). “We knew back in 2017-2018 that India is going to overperform on its climate commitment of reaching 40% renewable energy in its electricity mix by 2030,” he said.

Other experts point out that India is in no position to set an economy-wide net-zero target if it wants to sustain economic growth, pull millions out of poverty and provide power to the millions still underserved. At best, it can aim for net-zero emissions in select sectors such as power and transport, in which it has access to effective technological solutions.

Declaring net-zero targets in sectors that are ready would, in fact, be a good move, experts believe--it would send out strong policy signals to businesses to act against pollution.

 

Russia's Sputnik V developers call on AstraZeneca to try combining vaccines

 

Russia said its Sputnik V vaccine is 92% effective at protecting people from COVID-19, according to interim trial results.

Developers of the Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine said on Thursday that AstraZeneca should try combining its experimental shot with the Russian one to boost efficacy.
Russia said its Sputnik V vaccine is 92% effective at protecting people from Covid-19, according to interim trial results, while AstraZeneca said its Covid-19 vaccine was 70% effective in pivotal trials and could be up to 90% effective.

"If they go for a new clinical trial, we suggest trying a regimen of combining the AZ shot with the #SputnikV human adenoviral vector shot to boost efficacy," the developers of the Russian vaccine said on their Twitter account.

"Combining vaccines may prove important for revaccinations." AstraZeneca has said it will have as many as 200 million doses of its vaccine by the end of 2020.

The British developed vaccine is viewed as offering one of the best hopes for many developing countries because of its cheaper price and ability to be transported at normal fridge temperatures.

With 2,187,990 infections, Russia has the fourth-largest number of Covid-19 cases in the world behind the United States, India and Brazil.

AstraZeneca is likely to run an additional global trial to assess the efficacy of its vaccine, its chief executive Pascal Soriot was quoted as saying by Bloomberg News, after questions were raised over the results from its late-stage study.

 

'Nukes are here to stay': Kim unlikely to shift strategy after Biden win

 

Kim Jong Un is one of the few world leaders who has yet to congratulate -- or even acknowledge -- the president-elect

North Korea has greeted the last two U.S. presidents with tests of missiles or nuclear bombs within weeks of taking office. And experts see the same happening with Joe Biden, whom the regime has called “a rabid dog.”
Kim Jong Un is one of the few world leaders who has yet to congratulate -- or even acknowledge -- the president-elect, particularly after Chinese President Xi Jinping did so on Wednesday. While it’s not unusual for North Korea to stay silent on the results of U.S. elections, Kim held unprecedented meetings with President Donald Trump that broke the mold of relations between the long-time adversaries.

Ties now are poised to revert to the frostier days of the Obama administration, when the U.S. deployed “strategic patience” to avoid rewarding North Korea for provocations -- a policy that stayed in place after Kim took power in 2011. For North Korea, it may not make too much of a difference: Under both Barack Obama and Trump, Kim steadily increased his ability to threaten the U.S. homeland with nuclear weapons even in the face of ever-tighter sanctions.

“Regardless of the U.S. presidency, the North Korean regime is unlikely to change its behavior or shift its strategy toward the U.S.,” said Soo Kim, a Rand Corp. policy analyst who previously worked at the Central Intelligence Agency. “The nukes are here to stay, Kim will continue to build and extort, and the strategy has proven to work for decades. So why change what works?”

North Korea tested Obama with the launch of a long-range rocket and a nuclear device within months after he took power in 2009. Trump was welcomed to the White House with a series of ballistic missile tests that culminated with the launch in November 2017 of an intercontinental ballistic missile that experts said could deliver a nuclear warhead to all of the the U.S.

Israel, India partners in quest for future with low carbon: Netanyahu

 

Benjamin Netanyahu exuded confidence that solar energy would constitute over 25% of his country's energy supply by 2030.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that his country is India's partner in its quest for a future with low carbon and pollution levels, and exuded confidence that solar energy would constitute over 25 per cent of his country's energy supply by 2030.

Addressing a digital conference of the India-led International Solar Alliance (ISA), he said obstacles to conserving solar energy would have to be overcome to ensure supply on days when there is no sun.

"We want a future with less carbon and less pollution, a future based on green energy and that's why I welcome this vital initiative by Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi and I want to assure you that Israel is your partner in this quest," a government release quoted Netanyahu as saying.

"I believe that the most important renewable energy is ingenuity and innovation. And all the countries represented here, beginning with India and Israel, and all of you, are committed to seizing innovation in order to seize the future. And on that I think we can all be very, very hopeful," he said on Thursday.

Netanyahu attended the digital conference on the personal invitation of his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi.

The ISA, which seeks to harness the power of the sun to reduce pollution and carbon footprint, is an initiative of Modi. Over 80 countries are members of the alliance.

India was re-elected as president of the ISA for a term of two years at its third assembly in October.

Netanyahu noted that the sun is almost the exclusive source of renewable energy in his country.

 

Black Friday 2020: History, its connection with Christmas, Thanksgiving Day

 

Black Friday marks the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. Here's all you need to know about Black Friday sale.

The Friday following Thanksgiving Day, a special day for shopping enthusiasts, is known by the informal name 'Black Friday'. This day marks the beginning of the Christmas shopping season and sees massive sales at retail outlets and online shopping platforms around the world, but especially in the US.
On this day, retail outlets around the world open early and offer products at discounted rates.

The tradition of shopping for Christmas in the month of November or even earlier has been going on for decades. The term 'Black Friday', however, has become widely popular only in recent years, with retailers (and now etailers too) adopting the term and date to push their sales with attractive offers.

Here's all you need to know about Black Friday 2020

History of Black Friday

The term was first used in New York about 145 years ago, according to official records. But Black Friday at the time had nothing to do with Christmas shopping.

The use of the term was connected to a stock market scam and an eventual crash triggered by two investors named Jay Gould and Jim Fisk. As the market crashed on a Friday, the day came to be known as 'Black Friday'. According to reports, the crash took a severe toll on the US economy for many years.

 

Amazon's Jeff Bezos called upon to save thousands of stranded seafarers

 

Industry bodies including the International Chamber of Shipping wrote an open letter urging Bezos to exert pressure on the incoming Biden administration and other leaders.

Shipping industry associations called on Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos to support some 400,000 seafarers stuck on merchant vessels because of restrictions at ports to stop the spread of Covid-19.

Industry bodies including the International Chamber of Shipping wrote an open letter urging Bezos to exert pressure on the incoming Biden administration and other leaders to recognise seafarers as key workers, according to a joint statement on Thursday.

“The strength of Amazon’s (and others’) supply chain is central to the success of red-letter retail days like Black Friday,” said the letter, which was signed by the chairs of the industry groups. “Without these seafarers, global trade as we know it would simply cease to exist.”

“Unforgivably, more than 400,000 of our seagoing colleagues and seafarers, who underpin the movement of goods around the world, are currently stranded on board their vessels, because governments will not recognise their crucial role and prioritise them for immigration and travel purposes,” it said.

Amazon didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Some of them have been at sea for more than a year, the letter said, adding that about 90 per cent of global trade relies on shipping and the success and scale of shopping events such as Cyber Monday wouldn’t be possible without their work.

“Throughout some of the most difficult conditions in living memory, they have continued to transport the goods needed to satisfy the demand generated by platforms including Amazon,” it said.

 

Tesla recalls over 9,000 Model X and Y over manufacturing issues

 Tesla has recalled over 9,500 Model X and Y SUVs built in 2015 and 2016 and that company has filed the recall with the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

Tesla has recalled over 9,500 Model X and Y SUVs built in 2015 and 2016 and that company has filed the recall with the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
Tesla issued a new recall with NHTSA for 9,136 Model X SUVs built in 2015 and 2016 over pieces of the body that can detach while driving due to a lack of primer.

Tesla also issued a recall for 437 Model Y SUVs over a potentially loose bolt that could result in the upper control arm separating from the steering knuckle, reports Electrek.

The company is not aware of any accidents caused by the defect.

In Model X, while the pieces are cosmetic in nature, "the fear is that they could separate when driving and become hazards for other vehicles".

Tesla became aware of the issue after the pieces were found missing on a Model X.

"Owners will be contacted and will have to bring their vehicles in for service".

A second, smaller recall was issued for 437 Model Ys from the 2020 year, which may feature loose bolts in the front upper control arm that connects to the car's steering knuckles.

Tesla previously recalled 123,000 cars from its Model S line over a power steering problem.

 

 

Sustainable investing: How ESG bonds are raising concern among investors

 

Japanese real estate firm Hulic Co. recently joined a handful of borrowers worldwide in selling so-called sustainability-linked bonds, but the market's reception has been underwhelming.

A new type of bond that penalizes issuers for failing to meet social and environmental goals is raising concern among some investors that buying the debt may not be all that ethical.
Japanese real estate firm Hulic Co. recently joined a handful of borrowers worldwide in selling so-called sustainability-linked bonds, but the market’s reception has been underwhelming. Such securities offer an extra coupon if the issuer fails to meet goals, and for some investors that raises a troubling question: is it really ethical to profit from a company missing its green or social targets?

The muted reaction is fueling an early debate about whether the booming market for environmental, social and governance (ESG) investments risks skewing incentives for issuers. There have also been broader concerns that the cutting-edge laboratory of ESG bond design sometimes churns out structures that have design flaws. Many investors have struggled with other structures, for example, to figure out what’s really green and what’s “greenwashing” -- the use of misleading labels to create an undeserved image of environmental responsibility.

Hulic barely sold out its 10 billion yen ($96 million) of 0.44% notes last month, at a time when orders for other green bonds in Japan have far exceeded the supply.

Globally only about 10 issuers including Chanel Ceres Plc and Novartis AG have sold sustainability-linked securities after the world’s first such issuance last year from Italian utility Enel SpA.

“If the issuer achieves its goal, a low coupon can be treated as a reward for them, which makes sense,” said Nao Kobayashi, deputy manager of the investment department at Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co. “But if it fails, a step-up coupon is considered as a penalty, and it doesn’t sound right for us to benefit from someone’s penalty.”

 

One child or youth under 20 infected with HIV every 100 seconds: UNICEF

 

Approximately once every minute and 40 seconds, a child or young person under the age of 20 was infected with HIV last year, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said on Wednesday.

Approximately once every minute and 40 seconds, a child or young person under the age of 20 was infected with HIV last year, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said on Wednesday.
Prevention efforts and treatment for children remain some of the lowest amongst key affected populations, and in 2019, a little less than half of children worldwide did not have access to life-saving treatment, UNICEF said in a new report.

Nearly 3,20,000 children and adolescents were newly infected with HIV and 1,10,000 children died of AIDS last year, the Xinhua news agency reported.

"Children are still getting infected at alarming rates, and they are still dying from AIDS. This was even before Covid-19 interrupted vital HIV treatment and prevention services putting countless more lives at risk," said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore.

According to UNICEF, the Covid-19 pandemic has worsened inequalities in access to life-saving HIV services for children, adolescents and pregnant mothers everywhere, and there are serious concerns that one-third of high HIV burden countries could face coronavirus-related disruptions.

"Even as the world struggles in the midst of an ongoing global pandemic, hundreds of thousands of children continue to suffer the ravages of the HIV epidemic," said Fore.

Data from the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), cited in the report, showed the impact of control measures, supply chain disruptions, lack of personal protective equipment, and the redeployment of healthcare workers on HIV services.

 

Lakshmi Vilas Bank to operate branches as DBS Bank India from Friday

 

Govt asks RBI to act against those guilty for troubled lender's woes.

The government on Wednesday asked the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to take action against those responsible for debacle at troubled private lender Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB) and improve oversight of entities under its regulation.
Giving finality to the efforts towards salvaging LVB, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday gave its nod to merge LVB with DBS Bank India (DBIL). The amalgamation will come into force on. November 27. All the branches of LVB will function as branches of DBIL and LVB customers, including depositors, will be able to operate as DBIL customers from Friday.

The moratorium on LVB will also be lifted on November 27. DBIL is making arrangements to ensure that service, as usual, is provided to LVB customers, the RBI said in a statement. The banking regulator had placed LVB under the Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) regime in September 2019 due to a sharp rise in bad loans and weakening profitability.

Briefing media after the Cabinet meeting, Union minister Prakash Javadekar said the board (of LVB) has been removed, liability would be fixed and those who made mistakes would be punished. There would be an improvement in overall oversight also so as not to repeat mistakes these in the future, he said. This is in line with the cleaning up of the banking system.

The government has told the RBI that the guilty should be punished. “The people who start banks, commit fraud, and bring them on the verge of collapse should be punished. Together with this, there should be an improvement in the RBI oversight mechanism,” the minister said.

 

Buying in cryptocurrency is putting pressure on precious metals: Tradebulls

 

Both silver and gold are headed to basement after strong US and Europe's economic data.

Gold market has broken down significantly since last week as the US Dollar had gathered steam and smooth White House transition. Vaccine news is also putting prices under pressure. Gold is near to its support area around $1800 (also its 200 day SMA) and previously it was that area from where it broke resistance and made new high. There is plently of support around that level but if bears manage to break below this mark, then we may see correction more to the tune of $50. Strong US and Europe's data also pushed gold prices lower. We are waiting for some candlestick pattern showing reversal sign on the chart. We should pay attention to the US Dollar Index, because if it starts to rise that could be very bad news for gold in general. While a lack of data/events may push the gold traders towards risk news, updates from the US and concerning the vaccine may get major attention. We might see some pullback as RSI is in oversold on daily chart.

Investors are shifting to cryptocurrency and so precious metals are falling. Both silver and gold headed to basement after strong US and Europe's economic data. Looking at the 6-month chart, the precious metal is currently trading below the 50-day and 100-day exponential moving averages. However, the outlook for the silver price movement is rather neutral to bearish. On daily chart, RSI still is not in oversold region so there is room for downside. In MCX, major support for silver comes at 60,200 while resistance comes at 62,000. Any dips around 60,200 would be good level for going long in silver.

We have seen breakout on daily chart in Crude oil. WTI breakout was above $43.60 which it has successfully breached. Positive vaccine development along with material improvement in the physical oil market have pushed the prices. Increased buying from China has considerably tightened the physical oil market. Despite the recent oil price rally, money manager positioning remains near the lows so there is more chances of oil going higher as long positions will be made. Annual surplus has narrowed to just +2.3 MMbbls (from +101 MMbbl in July), while the surplus relative to 5-year average has narrowed to +9.3 MMbbls (from +95 MMbbl in July)

 

Amazon's cloud service AWS sees widespread outage affecting services

 

Amazon.com Inc's widely used cloud service, Amazon Web Services, is experiencing a large-scale outage, the company said, affecting users ranging from websites to software providers.

(Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc's widely used cloud service, Amazon Web Services (AWS), is experiencing a large-scale outage, the company said on Wednesday, affecting users ranging from websites to software providers.

It has also affected the ability to post updates to its service health dashboard, the company said.

"Kinesis has been experiencing increased error rates this morning in our US-East-1 Region that's impacted some other AWS services. We are working toward resolution," an AWS spokesperson said in a statement.

Amazon Kinesis, a part of its cloud offerings, collects, processes and analyzes real-time data and offers insights.

Video-streaming device maker Roku Inc, Adobe's Spark platform, video-hosting website Flickr and the Baltimore Sun newspaper were among those hit by the outage, according to their recent posts on Twitter.

"We are experiencing intermittent issues with our website and publishing system because of the AWS outage," the newspaper tweeted https://twitter.com/baltimoresun/status/1331649925373890561.

Amazon's cloud service business is thriving on higher demand from companies switching to virtual offices due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sales from AWS, which sells data storage and computing power in the cloud, rose about 29% in the third quarter.

Work from home revolution has one major beneficiary in India; working women

 

A third of India's technology services labor force comprises women, already a better gender ratio than most other industries in the country

The coronavirus pandemic has hit women worldwide with job losses and closures of childcare centers. Yet a surprising bright spot is emerging: India’s $200 billion technology services industry, where new rules are expected to provide female workers with a broad swath of flexible work arrangements and fresh employment opportunities.

On the outskirts of New Delhi, Teena Likhari, 45, quit her job running operations for the Indian back office of a Silicon Valley company in 2018 because of a family medical emergency. Looking to rejoin this year, she expected a market stunted by lockdowns. Instead, the pandemic had made work-from-home mainstream in her industry, which had long shunned the practice.

Not only did the operations manager quickly land a job with Indian outsourcer WNS Global Services, but working from her home in the city of Gurgaon, she began overseeing a 100-member team in the city of Pune about 900 miles away.

Likhari is one of the early beneficiaries of India’s decision to lift decades-old restrictions on remote work in back office firms because of the pandemic. The tech services industry -- one of the country’s most important financially -- can now allow employees to shift from traditional offices to work-from-anywhere arrangements, permanently if needed. Indian women, who have often had to sacrifice for their husbands’ careers or other commitments at home, have much to gain from the policy change.

“Even a year ago, an operations leader working remotely would’ve been unimaginable,” said Likhari, who has seen scores of women quit work after childbirth, marriage or when a family member fell ill. “The change will allow so many career women like me to do what we do from home, it’s a game changer.”