Indian Investors Are Moving to Alternatives, Kotak Mahindra Says
Gautami Gavankar, president of Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd., says Indian investors are increasingly considering alternative assets and private credit. Real estate plays, private equity funds like pre-IPO funds, infrastructure funds and special situation funds are also gaining traction, she tells the audience at the Bloomberg Invest conference in Hong Kong. (Source: Bloomberg)
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Yahoo
18 minutes ago
- Yahoo
China-to-US Freight Rates ‘No Longer Surging'—Is it All Downhill from Here?
After a series of weeks which saw trans-Pacific container prices double in the wake of a tariff truce between the U.S. and China, ocean freight rates may have already hit their summer seasonal peak. According to Hong Kong-based container shipping researcfh firm Linerlytica, rates have peaked after ocean carriers rolled back general rate increases (GRIs) from the previous two weeks as trans-Pacific capacity injections have still exceeded market demand. More from Sourcing Journal As Houthis Warn of 'War' Amid Israel-Iran Tensions, Red Sea Shipping Still Stagnant Trump Likely to Extend Tariff Pause as Negotiations Take Shape, Treasury Secretary Says Trump Touts Higher Duty Rate for Chinese Imports Under New Trade Deal A weekly update on Monday indicated that carriers are 'struggling to fill the ships' on the pathway to Los Angeles-Long Beach. Drewry's World Container Index (WCI), which saw ocean freight rates skyrocket 117 percent on the trans-Pacific trade lane in the four-week span prior to June 5, experienced a paltry 1 percent weekly jump to $5,914 per 40-foot container. The Shanghai-to-New York route had a major stabilization as well, shooting up 96 percent in a four-week span before inching up 2 percent to $7,285 per container. Overall, week-over-week totals across the WCI remained stable at $3,543 per 40-foot container. 'Global container shipping has addressed short-term capacity shortages and spot rates are now no longer surging, which will come as a relief to shippers,' said Philip Damas, head of Drewry Supply Chain Advisors. As carriers resumed suspended services and new carriers entered the market, Asia-to-West Coast ship capacity rose 16 percent month over month in June and is expected to increase another 8 percent in July, 'with far fewer cancelled sailings than in April/May,' Damas told Sourcing Journal. However, while GRI hikes are a lever ocean carriers often pull to capitalize on a surge in cargo and increase freight rates, the increased capacity forced them to pull back a week after taking effect. 'The June 1 GRI was fully implemented but failed to hold,' said Hua Joo Tan, co-founder of Linerlytica. 'Freight rates are dropping from their early June peak and will continue to fall back due to excess capacity as well as the absence of box shortages and port congestion. The mid-June GRI appears to be doomed for the same reasons.' According to a Thursday weekly update from Flexport, carriers have fully withdrawn planned June 15 GRIs for West Coast destinations. On the East and Gulf Coasts, GRIs remain in effect. Not everyone is anticipating such a quick fall, with Xeneta expecting an element of front-loading to still permeate throughout the original 90-day tariff rollback period. Xeneta's chief analyst, Peter Sand, said that 'mid-high' spot rates—rates paid by shippers in the 75th-highest percentile of the spot market—were the first batch that needed to get goods into the U.S. immediately and refill inventory. This cohort drove the sharpest rise in China-to-U.S. demand right after the rollback was announced May 12, he said. 'As we head into the second half of June, shippers benchmarking themselves against mid-low and average freight rates on the trans-Pacific headhaul will have to pay up as well,' Sand told Sourcing Journal. 'Still a tight market, but not tightening further to lift mid-high, as carriers are busy and soon done with bringing capacity back to the trans-Pacific trade lanes.' Adding onto the uncertainty is the U.S.-China tariff situation itself, which is still up in the air despite the Trump administration's insistence that there will be no more changes. Although representatives from the U.S. and China came to a new trade deal on Wednesday that establishes a combined duty rate of 55 percent on imports from China, there have been scant details surrounding the agreement. Additionally, neither Presidents Donald Trump or Xi Jinping have officially approved the deal. 'There are still a lot of moving parts on the tariff front and this is unlikely to be the end as far as China tariffs are concerned,' Tan told Sourcing Journal. 'The cargo volume trajectory will also depend on the rest of tariff discussions that are yet to be finalized.' This refers to the other 90-day deadline for U.S. trade partners that were recipients of the reciprocal tariffs. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Wednesday it is 'highly likely' the July 9 deadline would be extended. But with these de-escalations occurring, rates are likely to go on a downward slope if demand for carrier space weakens. 'Looking ahead, the end of the 90-day tariff pause and the probable early end of the peak season are expected to cause another downcycle in demand, another need for ship capacity changes and another sharp fall in spot freight rates from July,' said Damas.
Associated Press
19 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Asian shares slide while oil prices surge after Israel's strike on Iran
HONG KONG (AP) — Markets in Asia opened lower early Friday while oil prices surged after Israel attacked Iran's capital amid the ramping up tensions over Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear program. U.S. benchmark crude oil rose by $5.6, or 8.2%, to $73.61 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, increased by $5.52 to $74.88 per barrel. In share trading, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 fell 1.2% to 37,721.63 while the Kospi in Seoul edged 0.7% lower to 2,900.14. Hong Kong's Hang Seng retreated 0.4% to 23,929.62 and the Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.2% to 3,394.52. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 drifted 0.3% lower to 8,540.80. 'An Israeli attack on Iran poses a top ten of our global risk, but Asian markets are expected to recover quickly as they have relatively limited exposure to the conflict and growing ties to unaffected Saudi Arabia and the UAE,' said Xu Tiachen of The Economist Intelligence. On Thursday, U.S. stock indexes ticked higher following another encouraging update on inflation across the country. The S&P 500 rose 0.4% to 6,045.26. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.2% to 42,967.62, and the Nasdaq composite gained 0.2% to 19,662.48. Oracle pushed upward on the market after jumping 13.3%. The tech giant delivered stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected, and CEO Safra Catz said it expects revenue growth 'will be dramatically higher' in its upcoming fiscal year. That helped offset a 4.8% loss for Boeing after Air India said a London-bound flight crashed shortly after taking off from Ahmedabad airport Thursday with 242 passengers and crew onboard. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner crashed into a residential area near the airport five minutes after taking off. The cause of the crash wasn't immediately known. Stocks broadly got some help from easing Treasury yields in the bond market following the latest update on inflation. Thursday's update said inflation at the wholesale level wasn't as bad last month as economists expected, and it followed a report on Wednesday saying something similar about the inflation that U.S. consumers are feeling. Wall Street took it as a signal that the Federal Reserve will have more leeway to cut interest rates later this year in order to give the economy a boost. The Federal Reserve has been hesitant to lower interest rates, and it's been on hold this year after cutting at the end of last year, because it's waiting to see how much President Donald Trump's tariffs will hurt the economy and raise inflation. While lower rates can goose the economy by encouraging businesses and households to borrow, they can also accelerate inflation. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.35% from 4.41% late Wednesday and from roughly 4.80% early this year. Besides the inflation data, a separate report on jobless claims also helped to weigh on Treasury yields. It said slightly more U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week than economists expected, and the total number remained at the highest level in eight months. That could be an indication of a rise in layoffs across the country. 'We believe that were it not for the uncertainty caused by the tariffs, the combined information coming from the inflation and labor-market data would have compelled the Fed to have resumed cutting its policy rate by now,' according to Thierry Wizman, a strategist at Macquarie. The Fed's next meeting on interest rates is scheduled for next week, but the nearly unanimous expectation on Wall Street is that it will stand pat again. Traders are betting it's likely to begin cutting in September, according to data from CME Group. Trump's on-and-off tariffs have raised worries about higher inflation and a possible recession, which had sent the S&P 500 roughly 20% below its record a couple months ago. But stocks have since rallied nearly all the way back on hopes that Trump will lower his tariffs after reaching trade deals with other countries. Many of Trump's tariffs are on hold at the moment to give time for negotiations, but Trump added to the uncertainty late Wednesday when he suggested the United States could send letters to other countries at some point 'saying this is the deal. You can take it or you can leave it.' On Wall Street, Chime Financial jumped 37.4% in its first day of trading on the Nasdaq. The technology company is trying to be the main financial hub for customers, connecting them with its bank partners. GameStop dropped 22.5% after saying it plans to raise $1.75 billion by borrowing at zero interest rates, though the lenders could choose to be repaid in the video-game retailer's stock instead of cash. In currency trading early Monday, the U.S. dollar fell to 143.10 Japanese yen from 143.46 yen. The euro edged lower, to $1.1552 from $1.1590.
Wall Street Journal
30 minutes ago
- Wall Street Journal
Gold Extends Gains After Israel's Attack on Iran
0234 GMT — Gold extends gains in Asia's morning trading. Israel launched a wide-ranging attack on Iran's nuclear program, striking dozens of targets in an operation that escalates tensions in the region. 'Risk-off sentiment prevailed in the global markets due to the incident,' says Tina Teng, an Auckland-based independent market analyst, in an email. Safe-haven assets such as gold have surged, Teng adds. Spot gold is 1.5% higher at $3,435.77/oz, ICE data show. ( 2348 GMT — Gold is steady in the early Asian session amid geopolitical risks that typically enhance the safe-haven appeal of the precious metal. Israel is prepared to attack Iran in the coming days if Tehran rejects a U.S. proposal that would place strict limits on its nuclear program, Trump administration and Israeli officials have said. A senior Israeli official warned a strike could come as soon as Sunday unless Iran agrees to halt production of fissile material. Spot gold is little changed at $3,385.86/oz. (
