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The Dow Jones industrial average closed above the 40,000 mark for the first time on Friday, with other major indexes also scoring weekly gains, as data supported expectations for interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve this year. The benchmark S&P 500 edged higher after paring losses while the Nasdaq fell, but both chalked up a fourth straight week of gains. The Dow rose to end the fifth week of advances in a row. Strong corporate results and inflation and other economic data have bolstered investor hopes for Fed rate cuts this year. Eight out of the 11 S&P 500 sectors advanced, with energy leading gains while technology was the biggest loser. For the week, Dow gained 1.24%, S&P 500 rose 1.54%, and Nasdaq climbed 2.11%. "Today is a bit of a digestion day: we just broke out through record highs and now we're on a fourth straight week of gains, and the market appears to take a breaker," said Keith Lerner, co-chief investment officer at Truist Advisory Services in Atlanta. Traders see a 68% chance of the Fed's first rate cut in September, the CME FedWatch Tool showed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 134.21 points, or 0.34%, to 40,003.59, the S&P 500 gained 6.17 points, or 0.12%, to 5,303.27 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 12.35 points, or 0.07%, to 16,685.97. "For all the times that I've seen the market hit milestones and new highs, there's almost always consolidation around it even though it seems it's all psychological," said Tom Plumb, chief executive and portfolio manager at Plumb Funds in Madison, Wisconsin. "People have got mixed signals on inflation this week and the next big catalyst is next week when Nvidia reports. So it's one of those days when you seem to be biding your time." Advanced Micro Devices gained 1.1% after Microsoft said it plans to offer its cloud computing customers a platform of AMD artificial intelligence chips that will compete with components made by Nvidia. Reddit rose 10% following a partnership with OpenAI to bring its content to ChatGPT. GameStop dropped nearly 20% after filing for a mixed-shelf offering and saying it expects first-quarter net sales to drop from a year ago. About 15.6 billion shares changed hands across U.S. exchanges, compared with an average of about 11.7 billion shares over the last 20 sessions. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.18-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. On the Nasdaq, 2,039 stocks rose and 2,221 fell as declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.09-to-1 ratio. The S&P 500 posted 45 new 52-week highs and one new low while the Nasdaq recorded 157 new highs and 68 new lows.

MUMBAI: Indian equity markets will remain open on Saturday, May 18, for a special trading session, while both BSE and NSE will be remain closed on Monday, May 20, due to parliamentary polls in Mumbai. The special trading session will be held to check the preparedness of market intermediaries in case of a major disruption or failure of the primary site. Trading will occur in two sessions—first, from 9:15 am to 10:00 am, and second from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm. Traders will be allowed to place only delivery trades, with no intraday trading permitted. Additionally, new positions cannot be placed through the margin trading facility (MTF), according to the bourses.

Sony Pictures Entertainment and Apollo Global Management have taken a significant step forward in their effort to court Paramount, three people familiar with the matter said Friday. The two companies have signed nondisclosure agreements with Paramount, allowing them to look at Paramount's nonpublic financial information, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss active negotiations. Paramount previously shared materials with another suitor, Hollywood studio Skydance. Early this month, Sony and Apollo sent Paramount a nonbinding expression of interest in acquiring the company for $26 billion. The two had been seeking to buy Paramount for its studio and then sell off other parts of its empire, which includes CBS, cable channels like MTV and the Paramount+ streaming service. But Sony's shareholders have fretted over the possible acquisition, given the potential cost of a bid for Paramount and the headwinds facing the subscription streaming business. Sony and Apollo are now contemplating a variety of approaches to acquire the company's assets but are backing away from their plan to make an all-cash, $26 billion offer for Paramount, two of the people said. Sony's new vision for a deal could alter the dynamics of Paramount's effort to sell itself or merge with another company. Paramount previously rebuffed Sony's offer to buy just its studio, and Paramount's controlling shareholder, Shari Redstone, has long sought a deal for the entire company. A person familiar with Redstone's thinking has said that a breakup of the company is not a deal breaker, depending on the terms, but that she prefers to keep Paramount intact. Redstone has blessed a deal to sell her stake in National Amusements, Paramount's parent company, to Skydance, but Skydance's bid for the entire company has faced significant pushback from Paramount's common shareholders. Paramount let an exclusive negotiation window with Skydance lapse in recent weeks, but the two are still talking, and Skydance remains interested in a deal. The talks are happening at a tumultuous time for Paramount. CEO Bob Bakish stepped down last month after more than a quarter-century at the company. He was replaced in the interim by three executives running an "office of the CEO": George Cheeks, the CEO of CBS; Chris McCarthy, the chair of Showtime and MTV Entertainment Studios; and Brian Robbins, the CEO of Paramount Pictures. (This article originally appeared in The New York Times.)

Retailer and hypermarket operator Trent and state-owned Bharat Electronics are likely to replace LTI Mindtree and Divi’s Laboratories in the forthcoming rejig in the Nifty index, according to an estimate by Nuvama Alternative & Quantitative Research.The possible changes would lead to an inflow of $429 million or Rs 3,500 crore into Trent and $ 361 million or Rs 3,000 crore into Bharat Electronics, the brokerage said. The upcoming September 2024 rejig will be an action where we could see two stocks replacing the market's underperformers.NSE will consider the average market cap over the six months ending in July to decide on the stock replacement. The official announcement will occur in the latter half of August, with the adjustment taking place on September 30.If Sebi approves the inclusion of Zomato and Jio Financial Services into the F&O segment before the rejig announcement by NSE in August, they will have a higher chance to make it to Nifty over Trent and Bharat Electronics, said Nuvama.Trent shares have rallied 80% in the last six months, while Bharat Electronics gained 60%.Nifty exit will result in an outflow of $186 million (Rs 1,500 crore) from LTI Mindtree and $ 213 million (Rs 1,750 crore) from Divi’s Lab.LTI Mindtree shares plunged 13% in the past six months, while Divi’s Lab stock gained 9% during this period.

The National Testing Agency said on Friday that the CUET-UG exam at a centre in Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur where the wrong question paper was distributed will be conducted on May 29. The agency also denied reports of the question paper being leak at the centre. "The exam will be conducted on May 29 for over 220 students at an exam centre at Maharana Pratap Group of Colleges in Kanpur. This decision was taken after a wrong question paper was distributed on May 15," a senior National Testing Agency (NTA) official said. "There was no paper leak, the invigilators mistakenly distributed English medium question papers to Hindi medium students," the official added. The NTA will also conduct the CUET-UG exam for Delhi centres on May 29 as the May 15 exam was postponed a night before, citing unavoidable reasons. A similar incident occurred while conducting the NEET-UG exam on May 5 during which Hindi medium students at one centre in Rajasthan's Sawai Madhopur were handed English medium question papers. Their exam was later conducted on the same day. The NTA had also refuted reports of a paper leak in the exam. The third edition of the country's largest test is being conducted in hybrid mode for the first time. The exams of four subjects -- Chemistry, Biology, English and General Test -- were scheduled for May 15. The offline tests will be conducted between May 15 and May 19, followed by computer-based tests for other subjects between May 21 and May 24.

US electric carmaker Tesla is 'silent' and yet to communicate its India plans to the government under the new EV policy, an official said on Friday. American tech billionaire Elon Musk, who was scheduled to visit India on April 21-22, had postponed his visit at the last moment citing "very heavy Tesla obligations". Musk, CEO of electric carmaker Tesla, was also slated to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the visit. "They (Tesla) are just silent.. the (EV) policy was always meant for everybody," the official said when asked whether the company has communicated its plans to the government. The commercial decisions are announced by the companies, the official added. An e-mail query sent to Tesla remained unanswered. Earlier in April, he confirmed his visit to India in a post on X saying, "Looking forward to meeting with Prime Minister @NarendraModi in India". In June last year, Musk met with Modi during the latter's US visit and stated that he planned to visit India in 2024 while expressing confidence that Tesla would enter the Indian market soon. His proposed visit had raised expectations that he would announce plans for Tesla to set up shop in the country, along with his satcom venture Starlink. It was expected that Musk would announce plans for Tesla to set up its manufacturing unit in India and investments for the same that could be billions of dollars and the way forward for selling Tesla electric cars in India at the earliest. Not just electric cars, he is also eyeing the Indian market for his satellite internet business Starlink, for which regulatory approvals are awaited. Musk had in the past called for import duty reduction in India to be able to sell Tesla cars in the country. His planned visit to India came weeks after the government announced a new electric vehicle policy under which import duty concessions will be given to companies setting up manufacturing units in the country with a minimum investment of USD 500 million, a move aimed at attracting major global players like Tesla. Last month, an advisor representing Tesla -- The Asia Group (TAG) attended the first stakeholders' meeting on the new EV policy, along with those from Vietnam's EV maker VinFast and all the major manufacturers in India, including Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai, Tata, Mahindra, Kia, Skoda Auto Volkswagen India, Renault, Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi. The stakeholder consultation meeting was aimed at seeking inputs for the guidelines to be framed for the new EV manufacturing policy. As per the policy, the companies that would set up manufacturing facilities for EV passenger cars will be allowed to import a limited number of cars at lower customs/import duty of 15 per cent on vehicles costing USD 35,000 and above for five years from the date of issuance of the approval letter by the government. At present, cars imported as completely built units (CBUs) attract customs duty ranging from 70 per cent to 100 per cent, depending on the engine size and cost, insurance and freight (CIF) value. CBUs whose CIF value is more than USD 40,000 attract a 100 per cent import duty (for petrol engines size more than 3000 cc and diesel engines of size more than 2500 cc). Whereas those with CIF value under USD 40,000 attract 70 per cent duty (for petrol engine sizes under 3000 cc and diesel engine sizes under 2500 cc). The new EV policy seeks to promote India as a manufacturing destination for EVs and attract investment from reputed global manufacturers. Last year, Tesla approached the Indian government seeking duty cuts to import its vehicles in India.