India Growth Firm as Export Orders Soar in June, Flash PMIs Show
India's economic activity picked up in June, driven by a surge in new export orders that boosted the manufacturing sector, according to a flash survey by HSBC Holdings Plc.
The manufacturing purchasing managers' index was up at 58.4 from 57.6 in May, while the services purchasing managers' index climbed to 60.7 from 58.8 last month. That helped the composite index jump to 61 compared to 59.3 in May.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
39 minutes ago
- Yahoo
The Trump Organization quietly rescinds ‘built in the U.S.' promise for its T1 phone after analysts' consensus pointed to production in China
Trump Mobile has quietly stopped claiming its forthcoming phone will be made in the U.S. The company now uses more vague language in its marketing. It has also reduced the technical specs for the phone and stopped offering a specific date for the launch of its service. When the Trump Organization announced its cellular brand earlier this month, it touted that the devices would be 'made in the USA,' keeping in line with Trump administration policies. Now, just 10 days later, the company is quietly erasing those claims. The website for the device has removed all language indicating the phone would be manufactured in the U.S. Instead, it opts for language that still leans toward isolationism, but is much more vague now, saying it was 'designed with American values in mind' and it was 'brought to life right here in the USA.' The Verge, meanwhile, noted that the specs for the T1 phone have been dialed down since the phone was introduced. The screen is now smaller (having been reduced from 6.78 inches to 6.25 inches) and all information about RAM has been removed. In addition, while the phones were initially promised to be released in September, the company has since adjusted that language to read 'later this year.' Wannabe subscribers will still have to pay $100 up front for the phone. Skepticism about Trump Mobile's claims was almost immediate when the company was announced. 'As someone who's spent over a decade building a secure, privacy-first smartphone, focusing on manufacturing in the U.S., and I can say this with confidence: Producing a fully U.S.-made phone isn't something you spin up overnight,' Todd Weaver, CEO of Purism, the only company currently producing a U.S.-made smartphone, told Fortune. 'If the Trump phone is promising a $499 price tag with domestic manufacturing, this announcement looks to be classic vaporware.' Purism's phone costs $650 to produce and retails for $2,000. Trump has been an avid proponent of reshoring U.S. manufacturing, using tariffs as a leverage to convince companies to build plants in the U.S. and attacking Apple for manufacturing its iPhones in Asia. This story was originally featured on
Travel Weekly
an hour ago
- Travel Weekly
Major names with minor beginnings
Christina Jelski What's in a name? I found myself pondering this age-old question during a media dinner hosted by Minor Hotels earlier this month, while listening to Marion Walsh-Hedouin, the group's global communications director, share details about the Bangkok-based company's early days. That included background on the group's name, which had always struck me as an odd fit for a fast-growing hospitality empire that now spans more than 560 properties across 58 countries. And in an industry where names like Ritz-Carlton and Waldorf Astoria convey luxury and refinement, "Minor" seems understated by comparison. Minor Hotels' roots can be traced to 1967, when American-born entrepreneur William Heinecke founded Minor Holdings. That name wasn't born out of focus groups, a shrewd business plan or a prestigious family surname. Instead, the name came about simply because Heinecke was 17 at the time, so he was literally a minor when he started his business. Despite choosing branding that essentially advertised his inexperience, Heinecke managed to build a substantial portfolio over nearly six decades, expanding the Minor Hotels fold with brands like Anantara, Avani, NH Hotels, NH Collection and Tivoli. The origin story got me thinking about other hotel brands with names of similarly unconventional origins. Take Richard Branson's Virgin Group, for example. When Branson and business partner Nik Powell founded the brand as a mail-order record company in 1970, they landed on the name Virgin "because they were entirely new to business," according to the company's website. Like Heinecke, they had no experience -- as well as no shame about making that fact known. But from that humble beginning, Virgin has evolved into a billion-dollar empire spanning airlines, space ventures, hotels and many other industries. Naivete, it seems, can be an underrated asset in the hospitality industry. But sometimes, the universe intervenes to save founders from their own worst naming instincts. Consider Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, whose founder, Isadore Sharp, originally wanted to call his hotel chain Thunderbird Inn. It would have been a fitting title for the company's first location, a modest "motor hotel" in downtown Toronto that opened in 1961. But as fate would have it, that name was already taken. So, a relative suggested the "Four Seasons." While Minor and Virgin embraced their inexperience, Four Seasons stumbled into a brand that has come to be synonymous with sophistication, with Sharp declaring that "there was no vision, there was no grand dream" in those early days, according to the company. The luxury hospitality brand, however, hasn't forgotten its roots. The name Thunderbird currently graces the employee cafeteria at Four Seasons' Toronto headquarters, a reminder of what might have been. Can you imagine a parallel universe where well-heeled travelers check into the Thunderbird Beverly Hills, or a newlyweds rave about their honeymoon at the Thunderbird George V Paris? It doesn't quite have the same ring to it as Four Seasons, does it? These companies were all able to flourish and become leaders in the industry despite their somewhat humble stories of branding based on youth, inexperience and happy accidents. It may go against conventional corporate wisdom these days, but perhaps the most powerful brand story may be admitting you didn't really have one to begin with.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Concern Over Brazil's Sugar Supplies Lifts Prices
July NY world sugar #11 (SBN25) Friday closed up +0.16 (+1.02%), and August London ICE white sugar #5 (SWQ25) closed up +6.80 (+1.42%). Sugar prices moved sharply higher Friday as short-covering emerged after JPMorgan Chase revised its Brazil sugar outlook for 2025/26 to a deficit of -900,000 MT from a previous projection of a +200,000 MT surplus, citing disappointing yields and a low sucrose content in Brazil's sugar harvest. The Outlook for Abundant Coffee Supplies Undercuts Prices What's Driving Platinum? Cocoa Prices Slip as Dollar Strength Sparks Long Liquidation Stop Missing Market Moves: Get the FREE Barchart Brief – your midday dose of stock movers, trending sectors, and actionable trade ideas, delivered right to your inbox. Sign Up Now! Sugar prices have plummeted over the past three months, with NY sugar posting a 4-year low in its nearest futures contract on Thursday. Sugar prices have sold off due to expectations of a global sugar surplus. On May 22, the USDA, in its biannual report, projected that global 2025/26 sugar production would increase by +4.7% y/y to a record 189.318 million metric tons (MMT), with a global sugar surplus of 41.188 MMT, up 7.5% year-over-year. The outlook for higher sugar production in India, the world's second-largest producer, is bearish for prices. On June 2, India's National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories projected that India's 2025/26 sugar production would climb +19% y/y to 35 MMT, citing larger planted cane acreage. The outlook for abundant rainfall in India could lead to a bumper sugar crop, which is bearish for prices. On April 15, India's Ministry of Earth Sciences projected an above-normal monsoon this year, with total rainfall forecast to be 105% of the long-term average. India's monsoon season runs from June through September. Signs of larger global sugar output are negative for prices. On May 22, the USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) predicted that Brazil's 2025/26 sugar production would rise +2.3% y/y to a record 44.7 MMT. Also, India's 2025/26 sugar production is projected to rise +25% y/y to 35.3 MMT, citing favorable monsoon rains and increased sugar acreage. In addition, Thailand's 2025/26 sugar production is expected to climb +2% y/y to 10.3 MMT. In a bearish factor, the Indian government said on January 20 that it would allow its sugar mills to export 1 MMT of sugar this season, easing the restrictions placed on sugar exports in 2023. India has restricted sugar exports since October 2023 to maintain adequate domestic supplies. India allowed mills to export only 6.1 MMT of sugar during the 2022/23 season to September 30, after allowing exports of a record 11.1 MMT in the previous season. However, the ISMA projects that India's 2024/25 sugar production will fall -17.5% y/y to a 5-year low of 26.2 MMT. Also, the ISMA reported last Monday that India's sugar production from Oct 1-May 15 was 25.74 MMT, down -17% from the same period last year. In addition, Indian Food Secretary Chopra said on May 1 that India's 2024/25 sugar exports may only total 800,000 MT, below earlier expectations of 1 MMT. The outlook for higher sugar production in Thailand is bearish for sugar prices. On May 2, Thailand's Office of the Cane and Sugar Board reported that Thailand's 2024/25 sugar production rose +14% y/y to 10.00 MMT. Thailand is the world's third-largest sugar producer and the second-largest exporter of sugar. Sugar prices have some support from reduced sugar production in Brazil. Unica reported last Monday that the cumulative 2025/26 Brazil Center-South sugar output through May is down by -11.6% y/y to 6.954 MMT. Last month, Conab, Brazil's government crop forecasting agency, said 2024/25 Brazil sugar production fell -3.4% y/y to 44.118 MMT, citing lower sugarcane yields due to drought and excessive heat. A positive factor for sugar prices is the expected increase in sugar imports from Pakistan, following the Pakistani government's announcement last Friday that it plans to import 250,000 metric tons of raw sugar due to a disappointing sugarcane harvest. The International Sugar Organization (ISO) raised its 2024/25 global sugar deficit forecast to a 9-year high of -5.47 MMT on May 15, up from a February forecast of -4.88 MMT. This indicates a tightening market following the 2023/24 global sugar surplus of 1.31 MMT. ISO also cut its 2024/25 global sugar production forecast to 174.8 MMT from a February forecast of 175.5 MMT. The USDA, in its bi-annual report released May 22, projected that global 2025/26 sugar production would climb +4.7% y/y to a record 189.318 MMT and that global 2025/26 human sugar consumption would increase +1.4% y/y to a record 177.921 MMT. The USDA also forecasted that 2025/26 global sugar ending stocks would climb +7.5% y/y to 41.188 MMT. On the date of publication, Rich Asplund did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. This article was originally published on
