Aurelia Butler

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – A Delhi court has halted arbitration proceedings between Indian conglomerate Future Group and its estranged U.S. partner Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) in light of the national antitrust agency’s suspension of a 2019 deal between the two sides.The decision on Wednesday is a setback for U.S. e-commerce giant Amazon, which had successfully used the terms of its 2019 investment in a Future unit to block the Indian company’s attempt to sell retail assets to a rival.But after the Competition Commission of India (CCI) suspended the 2019 deal last month, citing suppression of information by Amazon while seeking clearances, Future argued there was no legal basis for the arbitration between the two sides to continue in Singapore.A two-judge bench led by Chief Justice D. N. Patel of the Delhi High Court agreed with Future’s arguments, putting the arbitration proceedings on hold. If the proceedings are not halted, Justice Patel said this would cause an “irreparable loss” to Future. “We hereby stay further proceedings of arbitral tribunal till next date of hearing,” said Patel, adding the court will reconvene on Feb. 1 to hear the case again.Future and Amazon did not respond to requests for comment. A source familiar with the case said that Amazon was likely to legally challenge the Delhi High Court’s decision.The long-running dispute is being heard by a Singapore arbitration panel, but the so-called “seat of the arbitration” is New Delhi, meaning proceedings are governed by Indian law. Amazon has long argued that Future violated the terms of its 2019 deal in deciding to sell retail assets to market leader Reliance Industries, and the U.S. company’s position had so far been backed by the Singapore arbitrator and Indian courts. Future denies any wrongdoing.The dispute over Future Retail, which has more than 1,500 supermarket and other outlets, is a flashpoint between Jeff Bezos’ Amazon and Reliance, run by tycoon Mukesh Ambani, as they try to gain the upper hand in Indian retail.Future had approached the Delhi High Court after the Singapore arbitration panel did not agree to its immediate demands to terminate the proceedings after antitrust suspension of the 2019 deal.Amazon has said it will legally challenge the CCI’s suspension of the 2019 deal.Future has said it is staring at liquidation if the Reliance asset sale deal fails after its retail businesses were hit hard during the COVID-19 pandemic. More

Earnings results from S&P 500 companies in 2021 blew past analyst estimates to deliver year-on-year growth in the first three quarters of 52.8%, 96.3% and 42.6%, respectively, according to Refinitiv, which currently sees fourth-quarter annual earnings growth of 22.3%.Companies, consumers and the broader economy largely thrived in 2021, helped by several factors such as a transfer of power in the U.S. government, the “meme stock” phenomenon, generous fiscal and monetary stimulus, booming demand and price spikes. Citigroup analysts raised their price target for the S&P 500 to 5,100 from 4,900 set in October, cautioning that a U.S. Federal Reserve policy tightening could pose valuation headwinds. The S&P 500 rose about 27% in 2021, gaining more than 3% in the last two months alone. The index closed at 4793.54 on Tuesday.Upcoming quarterly results and 2022 outlook of companies could provide the cushion for growth, despite COVID-19 and supply chain woes, Citigroup analyst Scott Chronert said. More

Early efforts by Democratic and Republican lawmakers have focused primarily on authorizing billions of dollars to help businesses including restaurants, performance venues, gyms and minor league sports teams, the report said, citing four people familiar with the matter.The White House declined to comment to the Washington Post, as did two lawmakers cited as behind the talks.Such a measure, if passed by Congress and signed into law by U.S. President Joe Biden, would be the latest federal relief package as the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic enters its third year, this time as the Omicron variant sweeps the country. Biden, a Democrat, approved the $1.9 trillion “American Rescue Plan” in March 2021. Former Republican U.S. President Donald Trump approved nearly $900 billion in coronvirus-related funding into law in December 2020 as part of a larger $2.3 trillion pandemic aid and spending package.Before that, Congress had passed bills allocating $3 trillion to combat the pandemic that shut down much of the United States in March 2020. More

(Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures were subdued on Wednesday ahead of minutes from the Federal Reserve’s December meeting, even as big technology stocks continued to fall, with Salesforce.com declining after a brokerage downgrade.The Dow Jones Industrial Average posted an all-time closing high on Tuesday as market participants rotated into economically sensitive energy, financials and industrials shares from technology names that dragged the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq indexes lower.Salesforce.com Inc (NYSE:CRM) fell 2.3% in premarket trading after a report that UBS lowered its rating on the stock to “neutral” from “buy”.Shares of oil companies and major Wall Street lenders continued their march higher, with Marathon Petroleum Corp (NYSE:MPC) and JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) leading the packs.On the other hand, tech heavyweights Google-owner Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Inc, Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT), Meta Platforms, Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) Inc, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Inc and Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) Corp fell between 0.2% and 1.3%.Interest-rate sensitive growth shares were also under pressure from a recent rise in U.S. Treasury yields, sparked by growing angst towards the prospect of interest rate hikes by the Fed to curb inflation. [US/]The U.S. central bank said last month it would end its pandemic-era bond buying in 2022, signaling at least three interest rate hikes for the year. Minutes from the meeting are due at 1400 ET/1900 GMT.”The rising yields will be a major story of the coming months of course as the Fed is preparing to end its QE purchases and hike rates. And the Fed minutes should give some light on the Fed’s plans,” said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank.At 6:42 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 2 points, or 0.01%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 3.75 points, or 0.08%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 63.25 points, or 0.39%.On the data front, December readings on ADP National Employment report and Markit composite final PMI are set to be released later in the day.Peloton Interactive (NASDAQ:PTON) dipped 1.6% after J.P.Morgan cut its price target on the fitness firm’s stock on expectations of softer demand.U.S.-listed shares of Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) Group and Bilibili (NASDAQ:BILI) Inc were down 1.1% and 4.2%, respectively, as China’s top market regulator fined the companies’ units for failing to properly report about a dozen deals. More

The government will implement greater tax and fee cuts for businesses and would provide targeted support for COVID-affected sectors such as services, Li was quoted as saying.China would extend existing tax breaks and increase deductions for research and development (R&D) expenses when companies calculate their income tax, Li added.Facing new downward pressures on its economy, China aims to stabilise key sectors such as employment, financing, trade and investment, Li said.The world’s second-largest economy faces multiple challenges heading into 2022 because of a property downturn and strict COVID-19 restrictions that have hit consumer spending.Zhang Ming, senior economist at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a top government think-tank, said in a report that China’s economy could grow 5.3-5.5% in 2022.The government would adopt “more expansionary” policies this year to prevent growth slowing further from the fourth quarter of last year, Zhang said.Some analysts estimate fourth-quarter gross domestic product growth may have dipped below 4% from the 4.9% pace in the previous quarter, although growth in 2021 could still be about 8%, above the official target of over 6%. More