Rise With Profit: US Stock Gains Ease Out, India's Retail Inflation Rises, Swiggy Listing | Podcast

This is the daily morning update from NDTV Profit. Over the next few minutes, we’ll bring you up to speed with everything you need to know to start your day ahead of the curve.

The rally on Wall Street after Donald Trump’s victory in the US Presidential Election has finally petered out. The Dow dropped 0.9%, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq fell by a more measured 0.3% and 0.1%, respectively. The smallcap Russel 2000 index, meanwhile, fell by 1.8%.

Investors are, perhaps, a little cautious ahead of the release of key economic data in the US. Later this evening, you’ll see consumer price inflation data, followed by producer price inflation and retail sales later in the week. The data will provide a clue to the pace of reduction of policy rates by the US Federal Reserve, which chose to cut policy rates by another 25 basis points last week.

Bond yields in the US have spiked over the past two weeks, with the 10-year yield now at 4.43%. That’s because a Trump Presidency is anticipated to keep inflation elevated. The thing is, higher yields and a stronger dollar are proving to be a headwind for risk assets as well as gold. In fact, the dollar index, which measures the strength of the greenback against a basket of currencies, hit $106 for the first time in five months, rising over 2% since last Monday. The price of gold hit a seven-week low overnight and global risk assets have been under pressure. In the Asia Pacific region this morning, the three early risers have all started lower.

Another global update to tell you about—the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries or OPEC has cut its oil demand growth forecasts for this year and next for a fourth consecutive month. This, as it takes into account, quite late, the slowdown in the top importer—China. It now anticipates that global oil consumption will increase by just under 2% in 2024. That’s almost 20% lower than its July forecast, but the group’s outlook is still far more bullish than others. It is still around double the rate anticipated by the International Energy Agency.

Back home, macroeconomic data takes centre stage. India's retail inflation remained above the central bank's target in October, driven by price rises in vegetables, fruits and oils and fats. The Consumer Price Index-based inflation rose to 6.21% last month, compared with 5.49% in September. It was considerably higher than consensus estimates, which had pegged it at 5.9%.

The jump in retail inflation was led by vegetables, with prices soaring 42.18% year-on-year compared to 35.99% in September. Urban inflation rose from 4.62% to 5.62%, while in rural areas, prices rose by 6.68%, compared to 5.12% in the same month last year.

Meanwhile, after a slump in August, India's industrial output rebounded in September, led by a surge in manufacturing and a modest pick-up in mining and electricity generation. The Index of Industrial Production grew by 3.1% compared with a contraction of 0.1% in August.

The uptick in IIP comes in the backdrop of India's core sector output also rebounding in September. The combined index of eight core industries rose by 2% in September.

In the primary market action, watch out for the Swiggy listing today. Its share issue was subscribed 3.6-times excluding the anchor book. The retail portion which received bids from over 5.71 lakh applications saw 41,000 applications as ineligible, after scrutiny by the registrar and transfer agent. A large part of the demand for the issue came from the qualified institutional segment.

In other news, India’s food safety regulator has warned quick-commerce and e-commerce companies, along with sellers, to strictly comply with expiry date regulations or face action, according to the attendees at the meeting. Taking action on the consumer complaints regarding false advertising of food and non-food products, the regulator nudged the sellers and companies to adhere to the existing labelling and packaging regulations. It clarified that the online platforms cannot simply bypass existing food safety norms to support their 10-minute delivery services.

And finally, Apple has done incredibly well in India—something that you could probably see based on the anecdotal evidence. It turns out that Apple’s Indian sales and marketing entity transferred Rs 3,302 crore to its Ireland-based holding company as dividend for the previous financial year, more than double compared with the year before. That’s a story in the Economic Times.