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India's antitrust body takes aim at beauty pageants, Mrs India Inc.
India's antitrust agency is investigating Mrs.?India Inc., an organiser?of a beauty pageant for?married?women?that sent winners to global events. It accuses it of abusing their position and setting burdensome contracts for participants. The Competition Commission of India is conducting its first investigation into allegations of wrongdoing made by some of the largest companies in the world, including France's Pernod Ricard and India's Tata Steel. The focus is on a niche market that the regulator has described as "a market?for beauty pageants in India for married women" with the goal of sending the winners to major international contests. In an order issued on Wednesday, the CCI said that it had analyzed agreements submitted by one of its contestants and found "onerous conditions". Many contestants and winners are prohibited from competing in another beauty pageant for a period of five years, either as a judge or mentor. The CCI also added that "participants may not sign or accept any professional assignments or contract without the express written consent" of the company. A request for a comment from Mrs India Inc was not responded to. A COMPLAINT BY RUNNER-UP TRIGGERED CASE Mrs India Inc. claims to be the "most credible" beauty contest for married women in India. It also says that it is "associated with the most prestigious international beauty pagesants for married women". CCI stated that its case was triggered by a complaint filed by Rinima Agarwal. She is a 2024 "Mrs. India Galaxy", and also the runner-up. This allows her to represent India at the 2025 "International Mrs. Galaxy". In its review of these accusations, the watchdog stated that it had asked for 'comments and details about Mrs India Inc’s tie-ups by 2025,' but the company did not respond despite multiple opportunities. The watchdog also pointed out that another onerous contract term requires the pageant's winners and participants to "join hands with a social cause recognized and promoted" by Miss India Inc. Typically, the regulator will investigate for several months before issuing a final decision. (Reporting and editing by Clarence Fernandez; Aditya Kalra)
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Voestalpine expects a higher profit for the year as EU trade regulations boost steel
Voestalpine, an Austrian steelmaker, expects to see its core profit?increase in the coming year after reporting a?beat on Wednesday. The new EU safeguards are expected to boost performance. The Steel and Technology Group forecasts earnings before interest taxes, depreciation, and amortization between EUR1.60 and EUR1.85 (between $1.86 billion and $2.15 billion), for its financial year 2026/27, compared to the EUR1.49 bn recorded during the year up until March. The average EBITDA for the fiscal year 2026/27 was EUR1,76 billion, according to analysts polled by Vara. The dividend per share will also increase to EUR0.75 from EUR0.60 in the previous year. Since the beginning of 2026, the EU has imposed a carbon tax on imports with high emissions. It is now implementing a trade policy that will halve steel import quotas starting July 1. This is part of measures to protect local steelmakers from cheaper products coming in from Asia. Voestalpine, however, said that delays in energy projects for its heavy-plate segment would reduce gains made by its steel division.
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The price of gold eases due to Middle East tensions, which lift oil prices and US economic data.
As renewed hostilities?in?the Middle East pushed?oil?prices higher, and stalled U.S.Iran talks, investors awaited upcoming U.S.economic data. After a rise of more than 1% the previous session, spot gold dropped 0.3%, to $4,471.38 an ounce, by 0511 GMT. U.S. Gold Futures for August Delivery fell 0.5% to $4499.30. The market is examining the possibility that Trump will not push for a resolution to the peace deal with Iran, said Kelvin Wong. "If we see further escalation that could dampen any recovery that gold may have had." Gulf 'hostilities' flared up again on Wednesday. The U.S. Military said that Iranian missile attacks on Bahrain, Kuwait, and other regional targets had either been thwarted, or failed. Diplomacy between Washington, and Tehran, showed little progress. U.S. Secretary of state Marco Rubio stated on Tuesday that the negotiating team of President Donald Trump has not offered Iran relief from sanctions in exchange for the reopening of Strait of Hormuz. He also insisted that any relief of sanctions was linked to Tehran's nuclear programme. Worries about inflation and interest rate hikes grew as oil prices jumped more than 1% Wednesday. Gold is often viewed as an inflation hedge, but it can lose its appeal when interest rates are high. Cleveland Federal Reserve President Beth Hammack said Tuesday that the U.S. Central bank might need to raise interest rates in the near future if inflation pressures keep rising. Investors will now be assessing the Fed's monetary policies based on the nonfarm payroll data due in the U.S. later today and the employment report due Friday. Silver spot fell by 0.4%, to $74.82 an ounce. Platinum lost 0.5%, to $1,927.25, and palladium remained at $1,369.64. (Reporting and editing by Subhranshu sahu, Ronojoy Mazumdar and Pablo Sinha from Bengaluru)
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Oil on Middle East conflict while AI bulls drive stocks higher
The dollar was 'on the verge of breaking through the 160 yen mark as new hostilities erupted in the Gulf following the failure of the U.S. - Iran peace?talks. Brent crude futures increased 1% to $94.74 per barrel. The dollar reached 160 yen and then paused as traders became cautious of possible Japanese intervention at that level. S&P futures were flat, and European futures fell 0.1%. However, the AI bull-run continued unabated in Asia where stock indexes reached record highs in Taiwan, Japan, and Korea. South Korean markets are closed. The U.S. Military said Iranian missile attacks against Bahrain, Kuwait, and other regional targets either failed or were thwarted as diplomacy with Washington and Tehran did not make much progress. Iran and the United States announced last week that they reached a tentative agreement to end the war. However, the two sides are yet to sign anything. Chris Weston is the head of research for Pepperstone Brokerage in Melbourne. He said that last week, the market was high on the belief of a MOU. Things are looking more precarious now. It seems that some people are returning to the table to negotiate with a smaller scope. I believe that we're now seeing some bets unwound. Cryptocurrencies fell,? weighed down by the selling of bitcoins at large holders and speculation that investors were selling in order to raise cash for SpaceX's upcoming?listing next week. Bitcoin has dropped nearly 10% over the last three sessions and reached a low of $66,123, a level not seen in two months. A source familiar with this matter says that SpaceX is planning to raise $75 billion through a massive initial public offering. The artificial intelligence theme in the tech sector seems immune to war concerns, and Wall Street indexes made small gains on Monday, led by AI. Marvell Technology shares soared by 32.5%, reaching a new record high, after Nvidia boss Jensen Huang referred to the chipmaker as the next trillion-dollar company. SoftBank, the tech investor, has surpassed Toyota in Japan as the most valuable company. On Wednesday, memory manufacturer Kioxia temporarily pushed Toyota, the top-ranked carmaker for decades, to third place. US LABOUR DATA IN CENTRAL FOCUS The benchmark yield for the 10-year U.S. Treasury was 4.46% on Wednesday, after bond prices had risen through Tuesday. Overnight data showed that U.S. jobs openings in April increased the most since 2005, showing a robust job market. It also shows that the economy doesn't need lower rates. On Wednesday, the U.S. ISM services and private payrolls numbers are due. The labour market data is on Friday. Peter Dragicevich is Asia-Pacific currency analyst at payments firm Corpay. He said that the U.S. employment report could exceed the downbeat forecasts. If this is realized, we believe that it may strengthen the USD's view that the U.S. Fed will raise interest rates in the future. The markets, which had expected rate cuts prior to the Iran War, have now priced in 18 basis points worth of rate increases for this year. A hike in Europe is almost fully priced-in following data that showed inflation increased further last month. Traders see about a 75 percent chance of an increase in Japan in June. The foreign exchange market was largely stable, with the dollar at 159.86 yen and the euro at 1.1627. Reporting by Tom Westbrook, Editing by Neil Fullick, Shri Navaratnam
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MORNING BID EUROPE - Marvelll is a suitable name for the newest AI darling
Tom Westbrook gives us a look at what the markets will be like tomorrow in Europe and globally. AI shares drove Asian equity markets to new records on Wednesday, despite fresh hostilities across the Middle East. Jensen Huang, the CEO of Nvidia and AI kingmaker, has announced that Marvell Technology, a chipmaker with a superhero-sounding name is the next trillion dollar company. This announcement sent its stock price higher than 30%. Market cap of $254bn is far from $1trillion, but peers are closing the gap at a rapid pace. In the past year, SK Hynix and Micron had barely $100 billion in market value. Now they are worth over $1 trillion. Kioxia, a maker of memory chips, briefly became Japan's second most valuable company on Wednesday behind SoftBank. It displaced the long-time No.1 Toyota. Toyota is now ranked third. According to a source with knowledge of the matter, Elon Musk’s?SpaceX is planning to set its IPO at $135 per stock to raise a record $75 billion. On Wednesday, the yen teetered into the red zone of intervention, reaching the 160 per dollar level, which is viewed as "around the red line" for the authorities. Gulf hostilities flared up again, with the U.S. Military stating that Iranian missile attacks against Bahrain, Kuwait, and 'other regional targets' were either thwarted, or failed. Diplomacy between Washington and Tehran showed little progress. The price of oil rose by about $1 per barrel. Private payrolls, the Federal Reserve's Beige Book of Economic Conditions and the U.S. Services ISM are due later in today. The U.S. Labour data is due on Friday. The figures released on Tuesday show that the number of job openings in April was at its highest level in five years. The following are key developments that may influence the markets on Wednesday. - Economics: U.S. services ISM, ADP Payrolls, Fed beige book - Iran war developments
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PMI: UAE non-oil businesses grow in May, but the war and Hormuz standoff are weighing on growth.
A business survey released on Wednesday showed that the UAE's private non-oil sector grew only modestly in May, as the war in the area weighed on the output and growth of new businesses. The S&P Global UAE Purchasing Managers' Index, adjusted for season, rose from 52.1 to 52.6 in the month of May. This index is still above 50 which separates growth from contraction. The continued disruption of maritime trade in the UAE had a cascading effect on the economy during May. Export orders fell in May due to both the shipping disruption and the uncertainty about how long the conflict would last, said David Owen, S&P Global Market Intelligence's principal economist. Owen stated that the input?delivery delays were the most significant since the COVID-19 Pandemic peak in April 2020. The survey's average long-term growth rate was still weaker, but the output growth reached a new high in three months. The growth in new business was also modest, and close to the 62-month low of April. Export sales were down again, but at a much slower pace. The subindex of new orders increased to 52.6 from 52.5 in April. The pace of job creation slowed to its lowest level since October 2025, and the cost pressures were still high due to a rise in material and transportation costs. Surveyed businesses were optimistic about the outlook for the next year. UAE's non oil GDP increased 6.8% from a year ago in 2025, outpacing the overall GDP growth of?6.2%. Dubai, the tourism and business center of the UAE, saw its headline PMI rise to 52 from 51.6. However, output growth has slowed down to its lowest level since June 2021.
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PMI data shows that Saudi Arabia's non-oil private industry activity reached a three-month peak in May.
A survey on Wednesday showed that the non-oil sector in Saudi Arabia expanded at its fastest pace in three month in May as domestic demand improved. Supply chains also stabilised. However, business optimism was still'subdued' due to conflict in the region. S&P Global's seasonally adjusted Riyad Bank Saudi Arabia Purchasing Managers' Index rose from 51.5 to 52.8 in the month of May. The 50-mark?distinguishes growth from contraction. The output accelerated the most in three months after the March downturn that followed the start of the Iran War.?Firms cited normalising work conditions, renewed contracts, and stronger local demand. The subindex of new orders?rose modestly in May to 52.0 from 51.5 in April, and remained below the long-term trend. Exports fell for the third consecutive month due to geopolitical tensions, increased fuel and freight costs, and disruptions in shipping. The decline was only marginally slower than the survey record contraction in April. The supply chain improved as well, with the delivery time of suppliers decreasing for the first three months, due to firms relying more on local vendors. Backlogs of work increased for the 11th consecutive time, but only moderately. Naif Al Ghaith is the Riyad Bank’s chief economist. He said, "Overall the latest PMI reading supports the expectation that Saudi Arabia’s non-oil economic will continue its upward trend throughout the rest of 2026." The business optimism was'muted', with many companies hopeful of a recovery in the market this year, but wary of inflation and geopolitical tensions. (Reporting and editing by Hugh Lawson; Staff Reporting)
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Gold remains stable amid Middle East tensions and US economic data is in focus
As 'investors' watched for a?development?in the Middle East, amid increasing inflation fears, and awaited US economic data to be released on Thursday, gold prices held steady. Gold spot was unchanged at $4485.17 an ounce as of 0319 GMT after rising by over 1% the previous session. U.S. Gold Futures for August Delivery fell 0.1% to $4,513.60. The market is now looking at the possibility that Trump will push for a resolution to a peace agreement, even though Trump wants to see a ceasefire with Iran. Kelvin Wong said. If we see a further increase in the price of gold, it could dampen any recovery that might have occurred. The Gulf hostilities erupted again on Wednesday. According to the U.S. Military, Iranian missile attacks against Bahrain, Kuwait and other regional targets have either been thwarted, or failed. U.S. Secretary of state Marco Rubio stated on Tuesday that the negotiating team of President Donald Trump has not offered Iran relief from sanctions in exchange for reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. He also insisted that any relief of sanctions was linked to Tehran?giving up its nuke programme. Early Wednesday morning, oil prices increased by more than 1%, causing concern over inflation and rate hikes. Gold is often viewed as an inflation hedge, but it tends to lose its appeal when interest rates are high. Beth Hammack, the Cleveland Federal Reserve president, said on Tuesday that the U.S. Central Bank may have to raise interest rates in the near future if inflation pressures already high continue to increase. Investors will now be awaiting U.S. Nonfarm Payroll Data, which is due later today, and the Employment Report due on Friday to gauge the Fed’s monetary policies. Silver spot fell by 0.1%, to $75.01 an ounce. Platinum lost 0.2%, to $1.933.15, and palladium rose 0.2%, to $1.372.25. (Reporting and editing by Subhranshu sahu, Ronojoy Mazumdar, and Pablo Sinha from Bengaluru)
Mike Dolan: Wild stock is moving beneath a surface that appears to be calm.
Wild swings in stock prices could indicate a market that is in its final stages of a speculative frenzy. Wall Street's fear gauge is dozing. It may take some good news to get it moving again.
The AI boom is accelerating and attracting more and more tech and chip names from around the world.
Even companies with a market cap of more than $200 billion have seen a 20% to 30% one-day increase. Dell's stock soared by 32% after its disastrous results on Friday. Hewlett Packard Enterprise soared 28% Tuesday after its own earnings report. Marvell Technology gained 25 percent on a single positive comment from Nvidia's Jensen Huang.
Software stocks experienced a series of sharp declines before staging equally impressive rallies in the last month.
The overall volatility gauges should be "flashing" red.
It's not a little bit.
The Cboe Volatility Index benchmark, known on Wall Street as the "fear index", is currently snoozing below historical averages, and at its lowest point of the year.
The calmness is deceiving.
Adam Turnquist, a financial strategist at LPL Financial, compares the sleepy VIX to the Cboe VIXEQ which measures implied volatility for individual S&P 500 constituents stocks. The VIXEQ has returned to its highest level in April of last year, when tariffs caused a storm.
The gap between these two indexes has increased by almost three times since the last decade.
Turnquist stated that the divergence was largely due to historically low correlations between S&P 500 stock. "Significant earnings related reactions, both up and down; widening gaps in performance between AI laggards versus beneficiaries and other more idiosyncratic factors have contributed to an elevated dispersion within the index."
The speculative purchase of call options on individual technology stocks rather than the index is also a factor in stoking volatility.
Turnquist cautioned that the current background "could be vulnerable if correlations start to rise." This could lead to "dispersion trading" whereby index volatility is sold and single stock equivalents are bought.
RE-CORRELATE
Paradoxically, this re-correlation may not be caused by a new event, but rather by a convergence of positive news, such as economic and political developments.
The dispersion is understandable on one level because the AI theme is concentrated in a small group of stocks that are hot, with winners and losers clearly visible, much like the Iran War jolts the sectors affected by energy prices and interest rate fluctuations.
What if, despite the fear of robot displacement, the war ends? Oil prices fall. The AI boom spreads across the entire economy.
The dramatic recovery in software stocks already suggests that fears of AI losers have been exaggerated. The job market shows little sign of disruption.
Could a wave positive economic news reduce dispersion and push the VIX up in the process, if it were to occur? This is not your usual scenario: a calmer geopolitical situation, lower oil prices, or even broader AI gains can also reduce index volatility and dispersion.
The interest rate markets could also play a role, especially if it stoked inflation.
A rising VIX could act as a brake on the overall equity rally. This is important because the current calmness of the market provides a favorable backdrop for three major IPOs scheduled this summer, including SpaceX, Anthropic, and likely OpenAI.
Three companies with a combined value of $3.75 trillion are targeting public listings that could raise $200 billion.
The majority of deep dives on how the market will absorb the new equity influx, such as Alphabet's announcement this week that it would be investing $80 billion, are fairly optimistic. The focus is on index inclusions and passive fund demand. They also consider some weighting changes as the lock-up period ends.
Successful debuts and the target valuations set the tone. The low volatility environment is also important, as it reduces the risks of pricing mistakes.
A re-awakening fear gauge can make for an extremely bumpy summer if the herd suddenly moves in one direction.
The opinions expressed are those of Mike Dolan a columnist at. This column is great! Open Interest (ROI) is your new essential source of global financial commentary. Follow ROI on LinkedIn and X. Listen to the Morning Bid podcast daily on Apple, Spotify or the app. Subscribe to the Morning Bid podcast and hear journalists discussing the latest news in finance and markets seven days a weeks.
(source: Reuters)