Latest news with #uncertainty
CTV News
an hour ago
- Climate
- CTV News
CTV National News: How uncertainty haunts the thousands of Canada's wildfire evacuees
Watch Thousands of Saskatchewan's wildfire evacuees are battling with the uncertainty of what they may find when they return home. Omar Sachedina has the story.
Entrepreneur
13 hours ago
- Business
- Entrepreneur
Multiple Trends Colliding and Leading us to Re-examine Fundamentals of Business: Nandan Nilekani
You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media. The world is in the midst of an era of uncertainty that we have never seen before, Infosys chairman Nandan Nilekani said in a letter to shareholders in its latest annual report 2024-25. "Multiple trends are colliding and leading us to reexamine the fundamentals of our businesses," he said. "As geopolitics becomes front and centre in our lives, we are having to take cognizance of the world not as one single global market but as fragmented blocs and countries. This means making strategic choices and even navigating between these blocs. Covid brought into focus the critical and pressing need to de-risk our supply chain and build viable alternatives. It was no longer enough to deliver just-in-time; we had to also factor in for just-in-case. Now tariffs are further driving home the point that we need to diversify our sourcing. Tariffs will be differentiated across products and countries and will likely keep changing. Bilateral and regional rules of trade will dominate. Supply chains will continue to shift as tariffs become another form of arbitrage," Nilekani said. The advent and possibilities of artificial intelligence (AI) creates another arc of uncertainty. "As enterprises look at applying AI to every aspect of the business, some longstanding challenges will become imperative and self-evident to firms. For example, the need to modernize legacy systems, and the need to create data architecture so that all the firm's data is consumable by AI, in a holistic manner, can no longer be put off. Firms will need to have an AI foundry for rapid innovation and an AI factory to scale successful innovations across the enterprise. While embracing AI will bring a goldmine of opportunities, it will not be entirely without some foreseeable risks. Regulatory variances across regions will need to be incorporated into one's strategy. The early learnings from enterprise AI adoption gives us a glimpse of these potential challenges that lie on the path ahead," he said. Nilekani said that every business vertical is facing challenges of various kinds. "Car makers are dealing with the transition from ICE engines to batteries. Pharma companies are looking at accelerating the pace of drug discovery with AI. Logistics companies are dealing with the complete reordering of global supply chains. Financial service companies are considering the tokenization of their assets. Energy companies are assessing the long-term demand for their products. Utilities are facing a distributed future. Manufacturing companies are navigating the advent of robots and 3D printing. Service companies are dealing with AI agents performing their tasks. There is not a sector that remains unscathed as rapid business and technological disruption forces businesses to adapt and advance." Amid these growing uncertainties, Nilekani said there is a "certainty" that Infosys brings. "The Infosys basket of products and services is diversified across geographies, verticals and technologies with solutions to both traditional and emerging business challenges. These solutions are created to support clients' investments in growth as well as for when they are cutting back on costs. Infosys is differentiated by its continuous and active investments in nurturing an engaged and committed workforce. A big part of this investment is in creating flexible training and skilling capability so that this workforce is always abreast of changing technology and business practices." Nilekani said that even as Infosys strives to be a truly AI-first company, there is a simultaneous and equal focus on being at the forefront of sustainability. "In every way, we seek to continue to rank among the world's most respected companies. We have always believed in enthusiastically embracing change. After all, our brand's promise to our stakeholders is to help them navigate their next. We also have immense confidence stemming from our fortress balance sheet – characterized by high liquidity, zero debt, and the ability to withstand uncertainty."
Telegraph
a day ago
- Business
- Telegraph
Bond markets are waking up to Trump's chaotic tariffs regime
If you didn't already fully understand the meaning of 'uncertainty', last week should have provided you with plenty of learning material. The concept of uncertainty relates to a situation when there is no known calculus for anticipating future outcomes. This contrasts with the concept of risk – when you can gauge the probabilities. Perhaps the purest case of risk concerns the chance of a ball sent spinning by a roulette wheel landing on a particular number. One hundred years ago, John Maynard Keynes made much of this distinction but it is still given insufficient attention. Financial and economic analysis is usually conducted solely on the basis of risk. The world is full of people who seem to think that they can calculate risks when, in reality, they haven't a clue. Keynes thought that the financial and business worlds were beset with endemic uncertainty. Sometimes economic agents would be immobilised by it. At other times, they might simply put it out of their mind, or assume the best, or press on regardless. This is why he thought market participants' 'animal spirits' were so important. In general, financial markets hate uncertainty and so do the managers of financial and non-financial businesses. Last week, the uncertainty quotient leapt up thanks to the still developing consequences of Donald Trump's trade policies. The fun and games last week started when the US Court of International Trade (CIT) blocked two of Trump's key tariff measures, that is to say, 'trafficking tariffs' – i.e. those related to fentanyl on Canada, Mexico and China – as well as his 'worldwide and retaliatory tariffs' on most countries. It took this action because it believes that the US president didn't have the authority to impose these tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. You might imagine that this would have an extremely favourable impact, as it seemed to imply a yet further unravelling of Trump's tariff shock. After all, the markets were badly hit when Trump first announced his tariffs on 'liberation day'. So you might reasonably think that markets would surge on news of their undoing. Indeed, the US and other equity markets did react favourably at first. But then the euphoria fizzled out. Partly, this was because equity markets had already regained most, if not all, of the ground they had lost on the initial tariff announcements – due mainly to Trump's backtracking and apparent second thoughts. The lukewarm reaction was also partly because it is widely assumed that the Trump administration would find a way round this. Indeed, on Thursday a US appeals court granted at least a temporary reprieve. The next stop will be the Supreme Court, which is dominated by Republicans. Moreover, even if the Supreme Court upholds the CIT's ruling, the Trump administration would probably try to find other ways of increasing tariffs, such as ramping up Section 301 and 232 investigations into various countries' trade policies, or trying to get Congress to pass legislation imposing tariffs. It was striking that the CIT's ruling wasn't warmly welcomed by the US Treasury market. Indeed, the 10-year bond yield initially edged up to over 4.5pc. The dominant thinking here concerns the possible fiscal implications of a failure by the Trump administration to enact widespread tariff increases. This is because the extra tariff revenue to be raised by Trump's measures was intended to largely offset the loss of tax revenue resulting from Trump's 'big beautiful bill', introducing or extending substantial tax reductions, which has now passed the House of Representatives. If the president presses on with tax cuts but is unable to push through substantial increases in tariffs then the implication would be a significant increase in the budget deficit – hence higher bond yields. Admittedly, if Trump's tariffs are blocked, then there would be much less upward pressure on inflation and that would make it easier for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates sooner and by more than would otherwise have been the case. Ordinarily, the bond market would like this. But if Trump is prevented from using tariffs as a way of closing the American trade deficit, then he may well want to substitute policies that would cause the dollar to fall substantially. That would renew inflation worries at the Fed – as well as causing widespread consternation among international holders of dollar assets. Actually, a depreciation of the currency, rather than tariffs, is the textbook way of addressing a trade deficit. But, of course, currency depreciation doesn't discriminate between countries and it affects both imports and exports of all types of goods, as well as services. That is precisely why economists tend to favour it. Importantly, though, unlike the imposition of tariffs, a currency depreciation does not produce any extra revenue for the government. That is the key reason why the Trump administration has favoured tariffs. As well as the potential impact on US financial markets and the American economy, these tariff shenanigans potentially have major effects on the world economy. If the proposed tariffs are rescinded, the countries set to gain the most are those heavily exposed to trade with the US – Canada, Mexico, Vietnam, Korea and Japan. Importantly, with tariffs on automative, steel and aluminium imports still in place, Canada, Mexico, Japan and Korea are heavily at risk – unless they can negotiate further concessions as the UK did. lose patience with Vladimir Putin. He may well impose tougher sanctions on Russia and those countries dealing with it, or even step up military aid for Ukraine.
Forbes
2 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
Remaining Nimble In Times Of Upheaval
The ground keeps shifting beneath our feet. In the span of 48 hours last week, I had a government contract for a program on crisis communications cancelled, reinstated, and cancelled again. I don't dare remove the program from my calendar in case it gets reinstated again. Fortunately, government contracts make up a small fraction of my work, so this isn't a crisis for me. But for all of us, the uncertainty in the business world can suck up precious time and mental energy, as well as cause us to hold off making decisions. Here are some suggestions for helping you steady the ship and move forward as you're buffeted by shifting headwinds and powerful waves of change. Reinforce for yourself and your team your core identity. We can't pivot if we don't have a starting point. A basketball player pivots effectively because she keeps one foot planted. She knows her starting point. If your team or your entire organization is threatened with external, arbitrary change, in your next meeting, remind everyone what you all stand for. Publicly articulating both your values and your mission will help you remember the underlying principles that will guide your decisions as you're caught up in the maelstrom. When Covenant House, a non-profit organization that houses young people experiencing homelessness, was instructed by various government agencies to limit the number of youth in its shelters during the Covid epidemic, the senior leadership could have frozen or panicked. Instead, they reminded themselves of the organization's mission to never turn away a kid in need. Knowing that remaining open is essential to their identity gave them the starting point for their decision-making. Since denying shelter to someone was not an option, the alternative was to turn offices, conference rooms, and other spaces into sleeping quarters. Knowing their mission also helped spur the creativity they needed when addressing how to feed, educate, and address medical needs of their residents. Remind yourself of the limits within which your organization operates. Although some groups are good at ignoring the rules of the game, most of us don't have that luxury, or that chutzpah. We're not only a nation of laws, but a business community bound by certain rules and regulations. Sometimes, those rules feel like restrictions. But sometimes, legal limits on our behavior make our decisions easier by taking certain actions off the table. When asked to take certain actions, being able to respond with, 'We're simply not allowed to do that,' can shift the conversation. When the pandemic struck, shuttering restaurants and cafeterias across the country, Dot Foods, Inc., the nation's largest food redistributor, found itself with massive amounts of food stuck in a supply chain that had ground to a halt. Some of their inventory is perishable and can't be sold beyond a particular date. Part of their corporate ethos is to minimize waste and support the communities in which they operate. The combination of knowing their limits and knowing themselves allowed them to pivot quickly and increase their donations to food pantries across the country. Gather ideas from outside the normal team. Your organization has a lot of talent. How well are you tapping into it? The demands some are faced with these days are not only novel, but they are also shockingly contrarian to the way we have always operated. Your immediate team is practiced at thinking and communicating a certain way. In times of upheaval, we need not only new ideas, but new ways of thinking. You may be well served by bringing different voices into the conversation. That doesn't mean opening up your Executive Committee to the entire firm. It means asking each person on your leadership team to reach out to people they may not normally interact with to understand the perspectives of those on the ground. If your leadership team communicates directly with voices and perspectives from which they are normally insulated, your team's ability to brainstorm new approaches expands dramatically. Many public-private partnerships exemplify the increased ability to tackle problems better by leveraging a variety of perspectives in the conversation. The Emerging Leaders Program – Bronx – is the classic example of this type of success. ELP-Bx works with six high schools in the South Bronx to expose young scholars to leadership skills and careers and help them see new paths for success in life. The organization is thriving because of the significant involvement of senior leaders in state and local government as well as at firms like JPM Asset Management and Brookfield Properties, among others. John Garibaldi, ELP Bx founder, says, 'Obviously, financial support from corporate sponsors and individual donors is essential to our success. But equally important are the ideas and perspectives that our partners in education, government, and business share in our consultation discussions. We couldn't accomplish all we have if we limited our conversations to people from one discipline, regardless of how smart they are. The plurality of perspectives is essential.' Stay humble. Learning requires humility. Changing course requires acknowledging mistakes. That's not failure; that's bravery. Ask yourself two questions: On a scale of 0-10, how much of a perfectionist am I? On a scale of 0-10, how hard am I on myself when I make a mistake? In business decisions, accept that there is no perfect answer. There are a dozen great answers, any one if which will present its own set of challenges but will still work. As a leader, accept that you will make mistakes. The American writer and philosopher George Saunders once paraphrased Descartes by saying, 'I think, therefore I am wrong.' Accepting that we won't always get it right allows us to remain creative and open to new ideas. Summary In short, as we continue to need to adapt in an ever-changing business landscape, we'll be more successful if we remind ourselves of our mission, see our limits as guideposts rather than hurdles, gain insight from a variety of perspectives, and acknowledge that we won't get everything right the first time.
CNN
3 days ago
- General
- CNN
‘As soon as they give in, Trump wins': Harvard international student urges the school to keep standing up
Alfred Williamson, a Harvard international student who just finished his freshman year, speaks with CNN's John Berman about the uncertainty he is facing due to President Trump's plans to restrict student visas.
