This isn't the right time to check into the Lemon Tree stock

• Lemon Tree's Q3 results aren't very inspiring despite a 34% rise in profit and 8% increase in revenue y-o-y
• After touching a high of about ₹85 in early August, the Lemon Tree share price is now back near its listing price

Will strong growth in consumption of petroleum products sustain?

• India’s consumption of petroleum products increased by 6.4% year-on-year in January, shows data
• Declining Singapore GRM, however, doesn't augur well for Indian Oil, HPCL and BPCL

Bank balance sheets are on the mend, but full recovery is still some time away

• Banks brought down NPAs by writing off dud loans and not just because borrowers have begun paying back
• Resolution under Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code needs to be speeded up for investors to really like bank stocks

Unexciting Q3 results of pharma companies give cues about the US market

• Indian pharma companies are seeing reduced pricing pressure in the US generic drugs business
• Helped by new product launches, US revenues of large pharma companies are expected to recover in FY20

US stocks trades lower after Fed minutes

• The minutes showed that many participants were not yet clear what adjustments to rates might be necessary later this year

• The S&P 500 posted 37 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 91 new highs and 13 new lows

US stocks mixed; Treasuries, dollar decline

• The S&P 500 Index fell 0.1%
•  The MSCI All-Country World Index increased 0.5% to the highest in 19 weeks

Palladium smashes $1,500 as shortages ignite record-breaking rally

• Spot palladium surged as much as 1.7% to $1,505.46 an ounce, and traded at $1,501.28 in London, with prices set for a seventh straight monthly gain
• In other precious metals, gold rallied to a 10-month high, while silver and platinum both climbed

Copper ticks higher for sixth session on trade optimism

• Three-month copper on the LME climbed as much as 0.5% to $6,350.50 a tonne, the highest since 3 Dec, and stood at $6,346 a tonne
•  The global lead market narrowed its annual deficit to 98,000 tonnes in 2018 compared to a shortfall of 148,000 in the previous year

RCom shares drop 10% after Supreme Court holds Anil Ambani guilty of contempt

• Ericsson India Pvt. Ltd had moved the Supreme Court seeking initiation of contempt proceedings against RCom and its chairman Anil Ambani
• Reliance Capital lost 10.26% intra-day, Reliance Infrastructure 8.76%, Reliance Naval & Engineering 8.57% and Reliance Power lost 5.53%

Gold prices hold at 10-month highs; markets await Fed minutes

• Spot gold was marginally lower at $1,339.61 per ounce
• Palladium rose 0.3% to $1,484.00 per ounce

Rupee edges higher against US dollar

• Most other Asian currencies were higher against the US dollar
• The rupee today opened at 71.27 a dollar

Weak bond auctions flash warning on India's record debt sales

• The government on February 1 said it plans to borrow almost $100 billion for the year starting April 1
• RBI will sell up to 2.26 trillion rupees of bonds in the January-March period

Rising volumes, revenue add zing to United Breweries' Q3 performance

• The flip side for investors is United Breweries' performance is already factored in the share price, with little margin for error
• Downing large doses of United Breweries shares, thus, may not be comforting to investors’ portfolios

Investors still look wary of NSE-SGX connect in GIFT City

• Since the NSE-SGX dispute began over a year ago, outstanding positions in SGX’s Nifty futures contract have more than halved
• Reports of NSE and SGX signing a new sort of collaboration involving GIFT City haven't brought much comfort either

RBI is looking through core inflation, and it may be right this time around

• RBI’s own forecasts of headline inflation have been rather benign despite factoring in the sticky and elevated core
• Some experts say that monetary policy has to take into account the trade-off between growth and inflation

If Q3 results weren’t that bad, why are Nifty EPS estimates still falling?

• Earnings estimates of listed companies have been cut by 11% since the beginning of 2019
• Valuations have been rock solid on the assumption that growth will catch up at some point in time

EPFO in a spot after dismal CPSE ETF and Bharat 22 ETF returns

• EPFO investments in CPSE ETF and Bharat 22 ETF have yielded just 1.89% and 0.48%, respectively, as of 31 December
• EPFO has invested in CPSE ETFs in three tranches and in Bharat 22 ETF in two tranches

Oil climbs to 3-month high on supply curbs and trade talks

• Brent for April settlement was at $66.47 a barrel, up 22 cents, on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange, after gaining 6.7% last week
• Futures in New York on Monday rose to the highest intraday level since 20 November, after advancing 5.4% last week

US markets gain on earnings; bonds rise, dollar falls

• The S&P 500 Index rose 0.2% as of 12:39pm New York time
• The MSCI All-Country World Index rose 0.2%. The MSCI Emerging Market Index gained 0.1%