Business
Wall Street reaps weekly gains amid Fed announcement, economic data

US equities advanced for the week as Wall Street parsed the Federal Reserve’s tapering announcement and a slew of economic data.
For the week ending Friday, the Dow rose 1.4 per cent, the S&P 500 increased 2 per cent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq rallied nearly 3.1 per cent, Xinhua news agency reported.
The S&P US Listed China 50 index, which is designed to track the performance of the 50 largest Chinese companies listed on US exchanges by total market cap, logged a weekly decline of 0.7 per cent.
In a highly anticipated move, the Federal Reserve announced this week that it would begin unwinding, often referred to as “tapering,” its monthly bond and mortgage security purchases amid great concerns over elevated inflation levels.
“Inflation is elevated, largely reflecting factors that are expected to be transitory. Supply and demand imbalances related to the pandemic and the reopening of the economy have contributed to sizable price increases in some sectors,” the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the Fed’s policy-making committee, said in a statement after a two-day policy meeting.
In light of the “substantial further progress” the US economy has made toward the Fed’s goals since December 2020, the committee decided to begin reducing the monthly pace of its net asset purchases by $10 billion for US Treasury securities and $5 billion for agency mortgage-backed securities, according to the statement.
Meanwhile, the Fed included the usual caveat that the taper pace could change if the FOMC deems it advisable.
“The FOMC statement was almost unchanged in November with the exception of a taper to begin in November and to follow exactly the path laid out in the September minutes,” Chris Low, Chief Economist at FHN Financial, said on Wednesday.
“The tweak to the inflation language does not change the meaning but offers an explanation of the transitory factors the Fed believes underlie inflation pressures,” he added.
Analysts at Zacks Investment Management noted that “the Fed is intentionally winding down its programs slowly, while widely telegraphing its plans to the market,” adding “the taper and associated tightening are poised to happen very slowly, which should give the markets ample time to adjust.”
Investors also sifted through the latest payroll data to assess the shape of US labor market.
The US Labor Department reported on Friday that US employers added 531,000 jobs in October, higher than a gain of 450,000 jobs expected.
The latest data followed upwardly revised job gains of 312,000 in September, and upwardly revised job gains of 483,000 in August, when labor market recovery slowed amid a Delta variant-fueled Covid-19 surge.
The unemployment rate edged down by 0.2 percentage points to 4.6 per cent in October, after dropping by 0.4 percentage points in September. The figure was down considerably from its recent high in April 2020, yet remained well above the pre-pandemic level of 3.5 per cent.
The labor force participation rate was unchanged at 61.6 per cent in October and has remained within a narrow range of 61.4 per cent to 61.7 per cent since June 2020, according to the report. The participation rate is still 1.7 percentage points lower than that of February 2020.
A separate report by the Labor Department on Thursday showed that US initial jobless claims, a rough way to measure layoffs, registered 269,000 in the week ending October 30, a decrease of 14,000 from the prior week’s revised level. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had estimated new claims would total a seasonally adjusted 275,000.
Business
ICEA launches industry-wide initiative to foster tech and AI innovation

New Delhi, June 3: The India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) on Tuesday announced a unique industry-wide initiative to collaboratively foster tech and AI innovation for the benefit of India’s manufacturing sector.
The programme will connect companies with transformative innovations across domains such as advanced manufacturing, AI, IoT, energy efficiency, materials science, and more.
The ICEA launched Venture Access Labs — a technology innovation access programme in collaboration with venture capital fund Caret Capital.
This initiative aims to empower India’s electronics and appliances manufacturing companies by enabling them to discover, curate, and adopt cutting-edge technologies and innovations from across the world.
“Through Venture Access Labs, ICEA is proud to champion and unlock global innovation to strengthen India’s position as a global hub for manufacturing and electronics with a vision to build Indian Champions,” said Pankaj Mohindroo, Chairman, ICEA.
“By opening the door to international technological advancements and building an innovation pipeline, we aim to accelerate India’s electronics manufacturing capabilities and global competitiveness so as to capture a larger global market share,” he added.
The comprehensive programme will cover several functions including procurement, planning, manufacturing, supply chain, finance, HR, legal and ESG.
Through this programme, companies will benefit from innovation trend spotting, curated access to high-impact startups and Ips, strategic matchmaking and pilot opportunities, tailored adoption pathways for new technologies, and facilitated investments in strategically relevant, vetted high-potential startups.
“It is time for the Indian electronics and appliances manufacturing to transit to tech first-led global leadership,” said Salil Kapoor, Co-founder and Chief mentor of Venture Access Labs.
It will be the innovation catalyst and partner, scanning and curating the latest tech and game-changing startups from across the world for Indian manufacturing companies to engage with, at a fraction of the cost if they were to do it on their own,” he mentioned.
National
Calcutta HC refuses ad-interim bail to law student held for hurting religious sentiments, seeks case diary

Kolkata, June 3: The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday denied ad-interim bail to Sharmistha Panoli, the 22-year-old law student arrested recently by Kolkata Police on charges of hurting religious sentiments and promoting disharmony and hatred.
As her counsel approached the High Court, challenging the trial court’s order last week sending her to judicial custody till June 13, the matter came up for hearing before the vacation bench of Justice Partha Sarathi Chatterjee.
However, Justice Chatterjee denied any relief to Panoli, observing that the freedom of speech in the country does not allow anyone to hurt anyone’s religious sentiment.
An FIR was registered against Panoli at Garden Reach Police Station on May 15 for posting an Instagram video, where she made some comments on ‘Operation Sindoor’ that had reportedly hurt the religious sentiments of a particular community.
In the face of strong criticism, she deleted that video and also tendered a public apology for the matter. However, based on the FIR registered, the police first sent her a notice, which failed since she had gone into hiding in Gurugram by then.
Thereafter, an arrest warrant was issued against her, and finally, she was arrested from Gurugram by Kolkata Police on Saturday morning and was brought back to Kolkata on transit remand on the same day.
Rejecting the ad-interim bail, Justice Chatterjee observed that the video posted on social media had reportedly hurt the religious sentiments of a section of people. “We have freedom of speech, but that doesn’t mean you will go on to hurt others. Our country is diverse, with all people. We must be cautious,” he said.
He directed the police to submit the case diary in the matter by the next date of hearing on June 5.
The vacation bench also directed the state government to ensure that police do not pursue any other complaint filed against Panoli in any other police station. It also directed the police not to register any fresh complaints in the same matter.
National
Bodies of three workers recovered from flooded illegal coal mine in Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh

Hazaribagh, June 3: Thirteen days after they were trapped, the bodies of three workers have been recovered from an illegal coal mine in Keredari block of Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh district, officials said on Tuesday.
The deceased, whose bodies were recovered late on Monday night, have been identified as Pramod Shah, 45, Umesh Kumar, 25, and Naushad Ansari, 24 — all residents of Kandaber village under the Keredari police station area.
The three men were reportedly swept into the mine on May 21, when heavy rainfall caused the Khawa River to swell.
Villagers said the strong current pushed the workers into one of the numerous illegal tunnels that dot the region, many of which are controlled by coal mafias and continue to operate despite the risks involved.
The mine shaft where they were trapped was more than 100 feet deep and quickly flooded, making rescue efforts extremely challenging.
The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) conducted a three-day operation to locate and retrieve the bodies but had to suspend efforts due to waterlogging.
Subsequently, the task of dewatering the mine was taken up by NTPC and a private company. After days of continuous pumping, the water level finally receded, which enabled local villagers to recover the bodies late on Monday night.
On Tuesday morning, police sent the bodies for autopsy to Sheikh Bhikhari Medical College and Hospital in Hazaribagh. After the post-mortem, the bodies were brought back to Kandaber and cremated on Tuesday afternoon.
The incident plunged the village into mourning, with relatives and neighbours breaking down as the news spread.
There were scenes of chaos and wailing as the bodies were brought into the village.
Following the recovery, villagers renewed calls for compensation and the provision of government jobs for one dependent of each deceased worker.
Despite repeated incidents, illegal mining continues unabated in the Khawa river belt of Keredari, drawing hundreds of locals desperate for work and vulnerable to exploitation.
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