Month: December 2021

Omicron: South Africa establishes war room to address effects of travel ban on tourism

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The South African government has established a war room to address the impact on the peak international tourism season.

The country’s tourism sector has been hit hard by the travel ban imposed by nearly 20 countries after the new coronavirus variant Omicron was detected in the country.

To mitigate the effects of the ban on the tourism sector, the country’s tourism minister Lindiwe Sisulu convened an urgent meeting with stakeholders on Tuesday.

Sisulu said that the War Room will be meeting on a regular basis to roll out and follow up on practical actions adopted by industry stakeholders to deal with the obstacles and crises that the country’s tourism and hospitality sector face.

The priority is to boost domestic tourism this festive season to secure the livelihoods of people dependent on the sector.

The stakeholders outlined how the red list announcement and consequent reaction from other governments had impacted their existing and future business as South Africa enters its peak inbound international tourism period. President Cyril Ramaphosa, in an address on Sunday, described the travel ban as a knee-jerk reaction that was unfair and discriminatory, just because South African scientists had announced the discovery of Omicron first even while it already existed in several other countries as well.

Rosemary Anderson, National Chairperson of FEDHASA, concurred with this. To be locked down on a semi-regular basis and banned for international travel because of our advanced genomic sequencing capability and low vaccination rates cannot continue. We depend on tourism for jobs and livelihoods, Anderson said.

Delegates said that while scientific certainty surrounding this new variant was awaited, the impact to brand South Africa and the deep tourism value chain has been devastating. There was also a call for South Africans who had not yet been vaccinated to do so urgently as plans are put in place to boost domestic tourism.

–With agency inputs

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Coronavirus News: Serum Institute seeks DCGI’s approval for Covishield as booster dose

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Coronavirus New: India added 8,954 new coronavirus infections taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,45,96,776, while the active cases were recorded at less than a lakh after 547 days, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday. The death toll climbed to 4,69,247 with 267 fresh fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am. The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been below 20,000 for 54 straight days and less than 50,000 daily new cases have been reported for 156 consecutive days now. The active cases have declined to 99,023 comprising 0.29 percent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has improved to 98.36 percent, the highest since March 2020, the ministry said. A decrease of 1,520 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.81 percent. It has been less than two percent for the last 58 days. The weekly positivity rate was also recorded at 0.84 percent. It has been below one percent for the last 17 days, according to the ministry.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Closing prices for crude oil, gold and other commodities

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Benchmark US crude oil for January delivery fell $3.77 to $66.18 a barrel Tuesday. Brent crude for January delivery fell $2.87 to $70.57 per barrel.

Wholesale gasoline for December delivery fell 10 cents to $1.98 a gallon. December heating oil fell 9 cents to $2.06 a gallon. January natural gas fell 28 cents to $4.57 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Gold for February delivery fell $8.70 to $1,776.50 an ounce. Silver for March delivery fell 3 cents to $22.82 an ounce and March copper fell 6 cents to $4.28 a pound.

The dollar fell to 113.12 Japanese yen from 113.73 yen. The euro rose to $1.1322 from $1.1274.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Key bond market deals: Canara Bank, Bajaj Finance, LIC Housing

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Here’s a look at the key bond market deals on Wednesday.

NON-CONVERTIBLE DEBENTURES:

• Canara Bank takes Rs 1,500 crore at 8.05 percent via Tier I perpetual bonds
• Aseem Infrastructure Finance takes Rs 100 crore at 6.5 percent via 3-year bonds
• Bajaj Finance to raise Rs 10 crore via 10-year bonds
• LIC Housing Finance takes:
• Rs 950 crore at 5.32 percent via 2-year bonds
• Rs 1,000 crore at 6.4 percent via 5-year bonds
• Home First Finance raises Rs 99 crore at 7.5 percent via 2-year bonds
• Phoenix ARC takes Rs 99.5 crore via 3-year bonds at 7.55 percent coupon

COMMERCIAL PAPERS:

• Tata Power to raise funds via three-month CP at 3.70 percent coupon
• IOC to raise funds via intra-month CP at 3.43 percent coupon
• REC to raise funds via over two-month CP at 3.57 percent coupon
• Chennai Petroleum Corp to raise funds via three-month CP at 3.63 percent coupon
• Godrej Industries to raise funds via three-month CP at 3.67 percent coupon
• Reliance Retail Ventures to raise funds via three-month CP at 3.73 percent coupon
• Aditya Birla Finance to raise funds via three-month CP at 3.94 percent coupon
• ICICI Securities to raise funds via three-month CP at 3.98 percent coupon
• HDFC Securities to raise funds via three-month CP at 4.00 percent coupon
• Tata Cleantech Capital to raise funds via three-month CP at 4.02 percent coupon
• Pilani Investments to raise funds via three-month CP at 4.37 percent coupon
• EPL to raise funds via two-month CP at 4.38 percent coupon
• EPL to raise funds via three-month CP at 4.43 percent coupon

Catch all the stock market live updates here.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

No change in petrol, diesel prices for 27th day in a row

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The oil marketing companies (OMCs) kept fuel prices unchanged for the 27nd consecutive day on Wednesday.

Accordingly, the cost of one litre of petrol in Delhi stands at Rs 103.97 per litre and of diesel at Rs 86.67 per litre. In Mumbai, the petrol and diesel prices stand at Rs 109.98 per litre and Rs 94.14 per litre, respectively.

Oil companies revise rates of petrol and diesel daily based on the average price of benchmark fuel in the international market in the preceding 15-days, and foreign exchange rates.

The prices of petrol and diesel are reviewed by oil marketing companies such as state-run Indian Oil on a daily basis and any revision is implemented from 6 am.

Fuel prices differ from state to state depending on the incidence of local taxes such as VAT and freight charges.

Earlier on November 4, the government had slashed excise duty on petrol and diesel to bring rates slightly down from the record-high levels. After the excise rates were cut, several states and Union Territories also announced a cut in VAT rates on petrol and diesel, giving a big relief to consumers.

Globally, oil prices tumbled on Tuesday after Moderna’s chief cast doubt on the efficacy of COVID19 vaccines against the Omicron coronavirus variant, spooking financial markets and heightening worries about oil demand, according to news agency Reuters.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Powell’s warning: Fed to tighten credit faster than expected

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell took a sharp and unexpected turn Tuesday toward tightening credit for consumers and businesses in the face of mounting concerns about high inflation.

Powell signaled that the Fed will likely act more quickly to phase out its ultra-low-interest rate policies even as the emergence of the new omicron variant of COVID-19 has raised fresh doubts about the future of the economy and the direction of inflation.

The Fed chair told the Senate Banking Committee that the central bank’s policymakers will discuss at their next meeting in mid-December whether to accelerate the reduction of their monthly bond purchases, which have been intended to lower long-term borrowing costs. The Fed just announced those reductions in early November at a pace that would end the bond buying in June. But on Tuesday, Powell signaled that the Fed is inclined to end those purchases several months before then.

Doing so would put the Fed on a path to begin raising its key short-term interest rate as early as the first half of next year. That rate has been pegged at nearly zero since last March, when the coronavirus sent the economy into a deep recession. A higher Fed rate would, in turn, raise borrowing costs for mortgages, credit cards and some business loans.

Stock prices tumbled after Powells comments, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost more than 650 points, or nearly 2%, for the day. Very low interest rates, nurtured by the Fed, have been a key factor in driving share prices to all-time highs since the pandemic struck.

He was decidedly more hawkish in tone than I expected and, I think, than the financial markets expected, said Kathy Bostjancic, chief U.S. financial economist at Oxford Economics. (Hawks generally favor higher borrowing costs to quell inflation, while doves typically emphasize lower rates to fuel hiring.)

Fed policymakers have come under pressure from a sharp jump in inflation, with consumer prices having soared 6.2% in October from a year earlier, the highest such inflation rate in 31 years. In response, some Fed officials in recent weeks had already started to push for a faster tapering of the central bank’s bond purchases.

Yet the sudden emergence of the omicron variant had led some Fed-watchers to speculate that the central bank would avoid any major policy shifts until a clearer picture of the variant and its likely impact on the economy emerged. But Powell’s remarks Tuesday and the questions he faced from senators were far more focused on inflation than on the likelihood that omicron, about which little is known, could seriously weaken the economy.

The economy is very strong, and inflationary pressures are high, Powell said. It is therefore appropriate, in my view, to consider wrapping up the taper of our asset purchases … perhaps a few months sooner.

This is a very abrupt pivot from the Fed, said Krishna Guha, an analyst at the investment bank Evercore ISI. The eight-month taper plan was only announced four weeks ago.”

Under fire from some Senate Republicans about worsening inflation, Powell suggested that price increases will likely slow next year as supply bottlenecks ease. But he also acknowledged that price increases have been spreading to broader categories of products and services, and as a result the risk of higher inflation has increased.

For months, Powell and other Fed officials had described inflation as transitory, which did not necessarily mean they thought it would disappear soon but that it wouldn’t keep spiraling higher. That outlook has so far proved too optimistic, and Powell said it is probably a good time to retire that word and try to explain more clearly what we mean.

The Fed chair said he thought the central bank’s policymakers will know more about the potential economic impact of the omicron variant in time for their next meeting in mid-December.

Regardless of the eventual consequences, the omicron variant seems sure to make Powells job more complicated next year. If omicron leads to another wave of factory and port shutdowns in the United States and overseas, supply chain bottlenecks could worsen and raise prices even more.

At the same time, omicron could renew fears among many workers about becoming infected on the job, leading to more resignations when quits are already at a record high or discouraging some of those out of work from taking a new job. That could weaken the job market and the economy. Under such a scenario, the Feds dual mandates of stable prices and maximum employment could come into conflict.

In a significant shift, Powell appeared to make inflation-fighting a more urgent priority than job growth by noting that higher prices themselves threaten the economic recovery. And a long period of growth, he said, is needed to regain the great labor market that existed before the pandemic.

Were going to need a long expansion,” the Fed chair said. To get that, were going to need price stability, and in a sense, the risk of persistent high inflation is also a major risk to getting back to such a labor market.

Rising inflation has put the Fed in a delicate spot, because the economy remains about 4 million jobs short of pre-pandemic levels, and many Democrats in Congress will want to see rates stay near zero until most of those jobs have been recovered.

The Fed cannot pump the brakes on our economic recovery too soon, before workers get a chance to fully rebound, said Sen. Sherrod Brown, the Ohio Democrat who chairs the Banking Committee. And I mean all workers, he added, noting that the Black unemployment rate remains twice that of white Americans.

By contrast, Sen. Pat Toomey from Pennsylvania, the senior Republican on the committee, suggested that the economy largely recovered roughly a year ago. As a result, emergency measures, such as the Fed’s bond purchases, haven’t been needed since then, he said.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who also testified before the Senate Banking panel Tuesday, urged Congress to raise the nation’s borrowing limit. Yellen has previously warned that without an increase in the debt ceiling, the government could default on its debt obligations for the first time soon after Dec. 15.

I cannot overstate how critical it is that Congress address this issue, she said. America must pay its bills on time and in full. If we do not, we will eviscerate our current recovery.

Congress, which is expected to address the borrowing limit, also faces a Friday deadline to provide enough funding to keep the federal government open.

Yellen also said that for now, the economic recovery remains strong, but she urged that Americans get vaccinated or receive booster shots to guard against the omicron variant.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

FDA panel backs first-of-a-kind COVID-19 pill from Merck

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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A panel of US health advisers narrowly backed the benefits of a closely watched COVID-19 pill from Merck, setting the stage for a likely authorisation of the first drug that Americans could take at home to treat the virus.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow