COP28 Concludes With First Agreement To Phase Out Fossil Fuels
Some 200 countries agreed to begin reducing global consumption of fossil fuels to avert the worst of climate change at the COP28 climate summit on Wednesday
Our Top Reports For Today
- (00:00) Stories Of The Day
- (03:38) ADB raises India growth projection to 6.7%
- (04:35) COP28 concludes with a first ever agreement to phase out fossil fuels.
- (6:20) All positive pressures notwithstanding, the rupee is still weak
- (12:18) Tesla to recall 2 million cars on autopilot failures
- (14:14) Netflix’s Night Agent most watched title on netflix globally
NOTE: This transcript contains only the host's monologue and does not include any interviews or discussions that might be within the podcast. Please refer to the episode audio if you wish to quote the people interviewed. Email [email protected] for any queries.
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Markets Hold Back, Await Fed Direction
The 21,000 and 70,000 marks for the Nifty50 and Sensex, respectively, are well, not easy to stay on, having hit them.
This often happens with new benchmarks and reflects the pause that investors take as they seek fresh direction, or news which could be for the overall market or stock specific.
Every market, stock or commodity is of course watching to see what the United States Federal Reserve’s outlook on interest rates is. Of course rate hikes don’t seem likely now but the continuity or a likely reduction is what people would want to see.
In keeping with all of this, the Sensex ended at 69,585 levels, up 34 points while the Nifty50 closed 20 points higher at 20,926 levels.
Oil Slips Further
And here is the energy segment from IndiaEnergyWeek
Oil whose fall we are tracking quite closely as you know is now trading levels close to 6 month lows.
The spectre of supply swamping demand continues to drive the weakness in price.
Remember, the suppliers or producers are also cutting and threatening further to cut production.
Benchmark Brent was trading around $73.5 a barrel after falling almost 4% on Tuesday.
The United States has raised its estimate for output over this year.
Crude has fallen despite a plan by OPEC to deepen output cuts.
The problem is that all countries may not stick to the voluntary reductions. It's obviously a delicate balance between the price you get for every barrel of oil you sell today versus not selling at all in anticipation of a future value at a future date.
Saudi Arabia has patience. Others may not.
The energy segment was supported by the IndiaEnergyWeek that will be held in February next. Log onto www.indiaenergyweek.com for more details
ADB Raises GDP Growth Prediction To 6.7% Growth.
Meanwhile, some more forecasts on India’s economic growth.
The Asia Development Bank (ADB) on Wednesday said India’s economy would grow 6.7 per cent in Financial Year 2023-24 (FY24), raising the estimate from 6.3 percent it made in September.
ADB’s move follows the higher GDP figure India reported in the July to September quarter or second quarter of the current financial year.
For FY2024 as a whole, agriculture is expected to grow slightly slower than expected, but this will be more than offset by industry’s much stronger-than-expected growth, hence the upward revision,” ADB said,
Elsewhere, ADB projected growth in China to reach 5.2 per cent in 2023, an increase from the previous forecast of 4.9 per cent in September.
COP28 Deal
Some 200 countries agreed to begin reducing global consumption of fossil fuels to avert the worst of climate change at the COP28 climate summit on Wednesday.
The deal was struck in Dubai following two weeks of tough negotiations and demonstrates the consensus to break away from fossil fuels..
COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber. who’s also chief executive officer of Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. called the deal "historic" but added that its true success would be in its implementation.
"We are what we do, not what we say," he told the crowded plenary at the summit. "We must take the steps necessary to turn this agreement into tangible actions." Reuters Reported.
"It is the first time that the world unites around such a clear text on the need to transition away from fossil fuels," said Norway Minister of Foreign Affairs Espen Barth Eide.
While the outcome falls short of the specific fossil fuel “phase out” most countries wanted, it does break new ground:
Previous COP texts have not talked of moving away from oil and gas.
The larger point is that this is the first time the world has agreed to transition away from all fossil fuels.
The final agreement calls for countries to quickly shift energy systems away from fossil fuels in a just and orderly fashion, qualifications that helped convince the sceptics.
Under the deal, countries also are called to contribute to a global transition effort — rather than being outright compelled to make that shift on their own, Bloomberg reported.
Rupee All Time Low Again
The rupee is under pressure.
It depreciated 4 paise to hit an all-time closing low of 83.41 (provisional) against the US dollar on Wednesday amid a strong American currency overseas.
A fall in crude oil prices is helping because we are paying out less dollars.
But not enough.
Except for inflation which is on the higher side at 5.6%, other indicators like index of Industrial production are strong, accelerating to a 16-month high of 11.7 per cent in October.
But the inflows have been strong, some Rs 25,000 crore have come in via FIIs this month alone which has been picking up since November after a near 3-month drought.
So, if many of the fundamental factors are pointing to a stronger rupee, why is it still weakening?
Well, I reached out to Anindya Banerjee Head of Research for Forex at Kotak Securities and I began by asking him why the rupee was weaker despite many of the factors potentially governing its value being in favour.
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Tesla To Recall 2 Million Cars
In a first of its kind, at least evidently for electric cars, Tesla is recalling just over two million vehicles in the United States fitted with its Autopilot advanced driver-assistance system.
Tesla has to install new safeguards, after a safety regulator said the system was open to "foreseeable misuse."
Tesla said in the recall filing that Autopilot's software system controls "may not be sufficient to prevent driver misuse" and could increase the risk of a crash.
Tesla's Autopilot is intended to enable cars to steer, accelerate and brake automatically within their lane, while enhanced Autopilot can assist in changing lanes on highways but does not make them autonomous.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has been investigating the electric automaker for more than two years over whether Tesla vehicles adequately ensure that drivers pay attention when using the driver assistance system, Reuters reported.
Acting NHTSA Administrator Ann Carlson told Reuters in August it's "really important that driver monitoring systems take into account that humans over-trust technology."
Netflix Night Agent
Okay, my question when we started was have you heard of Gabriel Basso and Luciane Buchanan.
Well, if not, let me tell you why.
They are the starrers of a Netflix political thriller television series called Night Agent which was the most-watched title globally in the first half of 2023, generating 812.1 million hours of viewing, Netflix said.
Night Agent was followed by Season 2 of the family drama Ginny & Georgia and the debut of The Glory, a South Korean series.
Ginny & Georgia delivered the biggest audience if you consider all seasons of a show.
On that note, you could of course decide to watch what everyone was watching and you missed, be happy that your tastes are similar to those elsewhere or be thrilled they are totally different.
