The U.S. President Donald Trump criticized the Federal Reserve again about its tight monetary policy which has made the dollar strong and as a result hurt the country’s competitiveness. At the annual Conservative Political Action Conference held in Oxon Hill, Maryland, Trump said that the gentleman at the Federal Reserve Bank likes a very strong dollar. Although, Trump mentioned his preference for a strong dollar, he mentioned that he would rather have a dollar that is strong and yet does not prohibit the United States from delaying with other nations.

Trump had made the economy an important part of his political platform. As a result, he has been repeatedly critical of the country’s central bank and its chairman, Jerome Powell. Although, Trump himself had appointed Powell, he remained critical of the Fed’s decision to raise interest rates several times last year. With rising concerns about slowing global economy trade war between the U.S. and China as well as financial markets volatility, the United States central bank has indicated that it will remain patient about the further tightening of the monetary policy.

The Federal Reserve had raised interest rates four times in 2018 as a part of tightening the monetary policy. On Saturday, Trump talked about lowering the dollar by avoiding quantitative tightening and by leaving the interest rates alone. He also mentioned that a weaker currency helps improve the competitiveness of a country’s exports. Powell, Chairman of Federal Reserve, has made it clear that he will not bow down to political pressure. He has already given a clear signal of the central bank’s independence in January 2019 by saying that he will not be resigning if requested to do so by Trump. This followed the reports in December that the United States President had discussed the feasibility of firing the Federal Reserve Chairman with his advisors after the interest rates were raised again by the Fed.

The Federal Reserve’s measure of purchasing large quantities of U.S. government bonds in order to boost economic growth especially during the financial crisis is called quantitative easing. This measure was taken by the Federal Reserve, which dropped its overnight lending rate to zero in order to lower long term lending rates.

According to investors, the Federal Reserve’s attempts at trimming its four trillion dollar balance sheet by at least $50 billion a month has resulted in tightening financial conditions. The Federal Reserve’s benchmark overnight lending rate is at present between 2.25 percent to 2.50 percent.

The US and China negotiators are very close to reach out to a deal to end the trade war. The Trumps administrator is thinking of withdrawing almost entire tariff hike on the Chinese products. The US can only remove the tariff hike if and only if China abides by its promise of protecting intellectual property rights and purchasing American goods, sources informed to Wall Street Journals.

There are important issues that still remain to be settled; meanwhile, the deal is still in discussion. US and China have agreed on a deal that needs Beijing to buy larger American agricultural goods, energy goods and seeks to remove some barriers that do not allow American Companies to operate in China. If China accepts the above condition, then the US is ready to remove its tariff hike on Chinese goods of worth 200 billion dollars out of 250 billion dollars of Chinese imports which are currently under the American charges.

One of the most important sticking points is whether the tariffs should be immediately withdrawn by the US or should the US wait for a little more time so that they can keep an eye over China and see whether it is following its promise, the sources mentioned. The US seeks to go ahead with the threats of tariffs hike to pressurize China and to make sure that China does not back out of the deal and withdraw the taxes completely when Beijing has implemented all the promises made in the agreement.

During the ongoing negotiation, the US had urged China not to bring in World Trade organizations cases in response to the US tariffs which needs to be levied so as to execute the deal, a person familiar with the talks informed.

The Summit Dates between the US President Trump and Chinese President Xi still needs to be finalized, delegates from both the side stated. The Wall Street Journal reporters had earlier mentioned the summit date to be on March 27 so as to end the trade war.

Sources say that China has presented that it will reduce the tariffs on Chemical, US farm, auto and other US products. Few sources also say that China may purchase natural gas of worth 18 billion dollars and also promises to speed up the process of withdrawing foreign ownership limitations on ventures namely Auto industries and to decrease the tariffs on imported vehicles by less than 15 percent, Wall Street Journal reports suggest.

Meanwhile, Trump along with his Economic team members have given a positive signal of reaching out a deal and sealing it. Earlier, Trump had extended the plan of increasing the tariff hike on Chinese goods that was supposed to take place on March 1.

On Friday, citing the delay over the tariff hike, US President had mentioned Beijing to remove all tariffs immediately that are levied against the US agriculture products.

The U.S and Chinese delegates are regularly in touch with each other through phone or video conference to strike the details of the deal.

However, the Trump administration is pressurizing China to approve the enforcement mechanism so that if China fails to keep its promise, then the US can immediately impose the tariffs hike on Chinese goods. Trump was accusing China of illegal trade practices for a year now and also delaying the promise of moving the economic power back to the US.

The Chinese delegates have offered to increase the purchases of American goods by around 1.2 trillion dollars for the next 6 years, a person familiar with the negotiation stated. But, it is still not known how Beijing is going to follow it if the tariffs hike will not be lifted along with other trading barriers, the person added further. In 2017, China had purchased around 130 billion dollars of US goods, reports according to the US figure.

Oil prices were high on Monday in Asia, with a slight recovery from its last week performance. During the time, when the OPEC the manufacturer club, tightened its supply output, there were progressive ongoing trade talks between the US and China. The report suggests that both the countries were very close to reach out a deal which will eventually bring an end to the tariff issue which had led for the slowdown of the economic growth globally.

The International Brent futures at 0135 GMT were at 65.46 dollar, which was up by 39 percent from its previous close. At the same time, the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were high by 36 percent at 56.16 dollars.

The recovery in the oil prices was noticed when the reports mentioned that the United States and China were both were close to end their trade dispute which had impacted the global economic slowdown.

In the on-going negotiation between the US and China, President Trump and President Xi might reach out to a formal trade deal during the summit which is to take place on March 27, the report has mentioned that there were productive talks taking place between the two countries, the report was published by Wall Street Journal on Sunday.

This positive news gave the needed support to the market which had affected the production of oil cuts from the past two months.

The Reuters survey observed that oil supply from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was down to almost 4 years low in February. The top oil exporters Saudi Arabia and its Gulf associates have out-performed on oil group supply. Meanwhile, Venezuela has registered a further decline in the output.

In the previous week, the oil prices were moving down due to a decline in the manufacturing index data which was noticed in both the countries and there was a rise in the crude oil output. On Friday, Brent crude oil fell down to 1.9 percent, as much as 3 percent for the whole week and WTI crude were down by 2.6 percent for the week.

The result of the on-going trade talks that were taking place from a very long time between the US and China will increase the oil prices, and the investors will also focus on the supply of crude oil. The progressive trade talk news has improved the market performance across Asia and has declined the gold and dollar rate.

Oil prices have been significantly driven by the US sanctions against OPEC members of Iran and Venezuela, which Barclays bank predicts to have further resulted in the reduction of 2 million BPD (barrels per day) in the global crude supply.

There are positive signs in the United States regarding oil production. They believe that crude oil production is growing high than of past years. While, the energy companies of US had reduced the number of oil rigs in the previous week so as to look for new reserves which was at the lowest as compared to 9 months because few oil manufacturers strictly follow on plans to cut the expenditure, even though there was a 20 percent increase in the crude oil futures in this year.

Barclays further say that the performance of crude oil might be repeated in the second half of 2019 and we truly hope for it especially for US oil output.

The US sanction against Venezuela and Iran, both the OPEC members have supported for raising the prices in 2019 starting from January 1, Brent crude oil has achieved around 17 percent, and WTI crude has nearly achieved 18 percent gain.

During this week, the American Petroleum Institute on supplies numbers will be noticed by the investors on Tuesday, and on Wednesday the report on stockpiles from the US Energy Information Administration. On Friday, Baker Hughes is intended to publish its weekly oil rings counts which are active in the US.

The production of US has been up from 2018 onwards to around 12.1 million BPD at the time when the OPEC members and few of its non-affiliated members like Russia had reduced its output by 1.2 million BPD so as to support oil prices. These OPEC cuts have supported for a decent fall in the oil prices at the end of last year.

On Thursday, Infosys, the second largest IT Company of India has imposed a fine of 9.5 lakh rupees on one of its key independent director Kiran Mazumdar Shaw for selling 1,600 shares accidentally of Infosys during the trading hours. Infosys has mentioned it in on February 28 during its BSE filing. She had not taken any prior permission to carry out such a trade from Infosys board members.

In the filing of exchanges, Infosys has stated that even though the trade was executed by the portfolio manager without consulting Mazumdar-Shaw, there has been the violation of trading rules of the company under Trading Policy and violation of SEBI Regulations 2015 Act (Prohibition of Insider Trading).

Infosys mentioned in a filing that the trade was performed by the portfolio manager and Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw had no prior knowledge about it. There were no directions given by the company to the independent director to execute the trade, and she was even unaware of the trade that took place. The decision was singlehandedly taken by the portfolio manager, and he executed the trade.

In portfolio management services, the investors do not keep track of the various activities of the day and their investment decisions, and in this case, a similar thing happened with the independent director of Infosys Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw had no knowledge about the transaction as a result of the process; she was charged with a fine of 9.5 lakh rupees. As of now, she needs to pay the penalty imposed by Infosys on her to a charity organization of her choice for violating the trade rule.

Regarding the case, according to the Infosys filings, the case was brought to the notice of the Compliance Officer of Infosys on February 13, 2019.

The Infosys Audit Committee has justified that the trade was unintentionally carried out and there was no intention to violate the insider trading regulations of SEBI and also of Infosys.

A similar case was noticed in January 2017 by Infosys, wherein Ravi Venkatesan- the former board member had accidentally purchased 50 shares of the company during the trading hour and had breached the insider trade policy of Infosys.

Relating to Venkatesan case, Infosys addressed that there were no guidelines given to the former board member to buy the shares of the company, which was carried out by his portfolio management services account and he too did not have any knowledge about it. The trade was executed by the fund manager of Venkatesan for all of his clients.

Infosys Audit Committee observed that there was a breaching of insider trading policy and therefore it is our duty to impose a fine of Rs 9.5 lakh on Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, and she has to pay it.

Corporate governance experts suggest that company directors and other important management people need to take prior permission from the company before carrying out any trade of its shares in the market trading hours.

Shiram Subramanian, the founder of corporate governance company InGovern, says that the directors of the company who intends to execute such trade need to present a trading plan to the respective company and also take advance permission from the company.

In this case, the step taken by the company is to self-censure and sends out a clear message that the company works with respect to the regulations of SEBI and others, he further added.

As per the PIT Regulations and according to Infosys Insider Trading Policy, Infosys will be informing the SEBI regarding the case of Muzamdar-Shaw, Infosys announced.

The United Kingdom and the United States entered in an agreement on Monday for a long-term pact to ensure that the $2 trillion a day transatlantic derivatives market remains uninterrupted by Brexit. The transactions in London and New York account for 80% of all global off-exchange trade contracts.

Derivatives are extensively utilized by companies to protect themselves against unexpected fluctuations in borrowing costs, currencies or raw material prices. However, at present, derivatives trading in the UK confirms no rules written by the European Union, which is set to exit on March 29. Bank of England Governor, Mark Carney told reporters on Monday that the derivative traders in the market can be confident that the trading between the UK and the US will not be affected even by a no-deal Brexit, and the high standards will continue to prevail.

Christopher Giancarlo, Chairman of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), stated that the agreement highlights London’s status as a global financial center for a long time to come. Measures announced on Monday by the CFTC, the UK Financial Conduct Authority and the Bank of England were aimed at reassuring markets that derivatives will not be affected even if there is a “hard” Brexit. He also added that the London derivatives market could not be readily replicated anywhere else.

Giancarlo assured that these measures provide a “bridge over Brexit” through a sustainable regulatory framework which the booming transatlantic derivatives market may continue and endure. He said that the steps taken are to ensure continuity, and will be implemented regardless of the form of Brexit, and are taken from a long-term perspective. Time for Brexit is ticking away, with just a month to go, however, uncertainty over an exit with transition agreement continues to threaten with economic disruption.

The transatlantic deal makes room for both, trading and clearing of derivatives, by institutions like the London Stock Exchange’s LCH clearing arm, ICE and CME. Andrew Bailey, Chief Executive Officer of the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority, claimed that the agreement is an indication that they want economic cooperation to continue.

Head of the global derivatives industry body, ISDA, Scott O’Malia opined that the agreement between the US and the UK would ensure safe, efficient and uninterrupted functioning of the market.

The European Union, too, has taken steps to ensure cross-border derivatives clearing are not affected in a “no-deal Brexit” scenario, as London dominates clearing of euro-denominated interest rates swapping. However, it still needs to strike a long-term relationship. Police Chief of City of London financial district, Catherine McGuiness said it is extremely important that the EU regulators immediately address critical issues that might arise after a no-deal Brexit, like the continuity of derivative transactions.

Steps taken by the US are permanent covering derivative transactions, while those taken by the EU are temporary and cover only clearing. Meanwhile, EU regulators are framing stricter requirements for foreign clearing houses that want to cater EU customers by insisting it could tell them what to do in a crisis, a step which both UK and US are opposing. This is being considered as an attempt to coerce some derivative businesses to move in the EU.

As soon as US President Donald Trump announced that the trade talks were progressive and are ready to the extent the tariff hike on Chinese goods, the Indian shares reached another high level along with Asian stocks.

When the news arrived about the trade talks between Beijing and Washington has achieved substantial progress during the high-level trade talks between the delegates, the Asian share was up and crossed the 5-month peak level on Monday. Three years record high gain in Chinese shares was noticed after the tariff hike delay announcement, the market was flooded with funds over the positive trade talk news.

The Nifty noticed a rise of around 0.16 percent to 10,809.30 at 0626 GMT and the Sensex was up by 0.26 percent to 35,965.83.

There was also a rise in the financial stock of the country namely the ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank. The ICICI bank shares were up by 1.5 percent and HDFC Bank shares up by almost 1 percent.

IT stocks also noticed a gain in its shares. More than 2 percent each increased shares of Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys, the top IT companies of India.

Shares of other companies like Sobha Ltd, Godrej Properties Ltd, and Oberoi Really Ltd were up by nearly 3.5 percent to 4.4 percent during the trading hour.

Meanwhile, the shares of Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited were trading low by almost 9.1 percent.

The Indian Market is looking out for cues from the global market especially on the news like parliamentary elections and government policies which are still far to take place, vice president of Kotak Securities, Sumit Pokarana informed.

Pokharana also said that there are geopolitics tensions in India especially after the suicide attack that almost killed 40 Indian troops in India planned by Pakistan. Also, there are risks related to it, and market participants want some actions to be implemented by the government before the general elections.

China’s Shanghai Composite Index significantly reached another level and was up by 5.6 percent to 2,915.28. The gain was the highest recorded one after November 2015.