BQuick On Dec. 10: Top 10 Stories In Under 10 Minutes

Here’s a roundup of the day’s top stories in brief.

1. Brent Crude Tops $50; Sensex Snaps 5-Session Streak

U.S. stocks fell and bonds climbed on concern that prospects for a stimulus deal remain elusive amid the most-intense negotiations over a Covid-19 package since Election Day.

• The S&P 500 also dropped after data showed applications for U.S. unemployment benefits surged last week, topping most estimates.

• Technology shares continued to underperform.

• Airbnb Inc. will start trading Thursday after DoorDash Inc. supercharged investor expectations by almost doubling in its frenzied public debut.

• Brent crude oil futures rose above $50 a barrel for the first time since March.

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Indian stocks fell, in line with a broad decline in Asian peers.

• The S&P BSE Sensex declined 0.3%, ending a 5-day series of consecutive gains.

• The NSE Nifty 50 Index slipped 0.4%, snapping a seven-day win streak.

Follow the day's trading action here.

Related Coverage:

• Cement stocks fall as CCI probes alleged anti-competitive behaviour

• IRCTC’s non-retail OFS gets 198% demand; shares slump most on record

• REC, PFC shares fall on RBI’s new NBFC dividend proposal

• Macquarie’s top India stock picks

• Mrs. Bectors fixes IPO price band at Rs 286-288 per share

2. Three Bids For DHFL's Full Portfolio?

At least two bidders for the assets of Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd. are in the process of finalising revised bids for the full portfolio of the insolvent financier, three people with direct knowledge of the matter said on the condition of anonymity.

• Earlier this week, Oaktree Capital Management wrote a letter to DHFL’s administrator and its financial creditors, seeking clarification on whether the current round of bidding is last and final, the people quoted above said.

• Separately, according to two of the three people quoted above, Piramal Group has been regularly accessing the data room since Dec. 3 to put together its fresh bids.

The revised bids follow a fresh offer submitted by the Adani Group.

3. M&M's Supply Shock

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. said the global shortage of semiconductors supplied by Bosch Ltd. is expected to lower production and sales for the maker of cars, trucks and tractors in the last quarter of the ongoing financial year.

M&M said there will be no material impact on production or sales volumes of its automotive division in December.

4. UPL's Defence

Shares of UPL Ltd. fell the most since March to be the worst performer on the Nifty 50 after a report by ET Prime cited a whistleblower complaint alleging wrongdoing in rent deals.

• UPL said the owner of the company from which the property was leased is not an employee or a founder.

• An identical complaint was investigated in 2017 and no discrepancies were found, the firm’s officials said on a briefing call.

UPL also said it will evaluate all possible legal options to defend its image.

5. Steelmakers Set To Get An Earnings Boost

Steelmakers are likely to see their earnings improve as a recovery in demand for the alloy has sent prices to a record high.

• Brokerages including JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley expect that to aid earnings of the steelmakers despite an increase in costs.

• Demand has slowly inched higher and is almost close to last year’s levels after India started easing the Covid-19 lockdown, according to monthly consumption data released by the Ministry of Steel.

• It was just 2% lower than a year earlier in October.

That has aided the surge in steel stocks.

6. Vedanta Resources Passes Key Funding Test

Mining giant Vedanta Resources Ltd. was able to secure much-needed funds by selling $1 billion of notes at one of the highest yields for a dollar bond in Asia this year.

• The company priced the January 2024 bond on Wednesday at a yield of 13.875%, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because they aren’t authorized to speak about it.

• Vedanta Resources plans to use the money to finance a buyback offer for $670 million of notes maturing in June 2021.

The deal showed the company can access debt capital markets.

7. Tata Rejects Mistry Offer

Tata Sons Pvt. has rejected an offer by billionaire Pallonji Mistry’s conglomerate to swap Mistry family’s stake in the group’s holding company for shares in listed Tata entities.

• Accepting the offer would mean spilling the dispute to the other group companies, Tata Sons lawyer, senior advocate Harish Salve, told the Chief Justice of India-headed Supreme Court bench.

• The Mistry side, represented by Senior Advocate CA Sundaram, in the second half of Thursday’s hearing argued that Tata Sons was not being run as a board-managed company.

Catch up with the latest arguments in the Tata-Mistry case.

8. Apollo Hospitals Ready To Vaccinate 10 Lakh Daily

India’s largest hospital chain says it’s ready to administer ten lakh coronavirus vaccine doses a day, but the government has not made clear how vaccines will be distributed and whether private health-care networks will be involved.

• Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd. has so far trained 6,000 staff to give out jabs across its network of 71 hospitals, hundreds of clinics and thousands of pharmacies, according to Managing Director Suneeta Reddy, who said the company’s talks with officials in New Delhi had yet to provide any firm guidance.

• “We need to know if the government wants to handle the whole thing or allow the private sector to do it,” Reddy said in an interview Tuesday.

The government “can do it, but it will take time”, Reddy added.

9. Indians Are Paying More For Affordable TVs

This Diwali, consumers looking to buy a television may have had to pay more or drop the plan.

• Finding a low-cost affordable screen was tough during the festival season as India’s clampdown on imports and shuttered factories in China squeezed the supply for cheaper brands.

• The government restricted imports of television panels amid border tension with China as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s self-reliance pitch during the pandemic.

• The component that contributes roughly 60% of the total cost of manufacturing a television is largely imported with little domestic production.

The restrictions are causing delay in clearances.

10. Existential Threat To Zuckerberg's Social Media Empire

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission took a major step toward the possible breakup of Facebook Inc. by formally filing an antitrust lawsuit against the technology giant, accusing it of abusing its monopoly powers in social networking to stifle competition.

• The FTC and a coalition of states also suing the company zeroed in on Facebook’s acquisition of photo-sharing app Instagram for $715 million in 2012, and the $22 billion deal for messaging service WhatsApp two years later.

• The deals, which sailed past regulators when they were proposed, were meant to “squelch” competitive threats, the commission wrote in its complaint Wednesday.

Now, the FTC wants Facebook to divest the two businesses.