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PARIS: President Emmanuel Macron dissolved the lower house of France's parliament in a surprise announcement sending voters back to the polls in the coming weeks to choose lawmakers, after his party was handed a humbling defeat by the far-right in the European elections Sunday. The legislative elections will take place in two rounds on June 30 and July 7. The announcement came after the first projected results from France put the far-right National Rally party well ahead in the European Union's parliamentary elections, handing a chastening loss to Macron's pro-European centrists, according to French opinion poll institutes. Marine Le Pen's anti-immigration, nationalist party was estimated to get around 31%-32% of the votes, a historic result more than double the share of Macron's Renaissance party, which was projected to reach around 15%. Macron himself wasn't a candidate in the EU elections and his term as president still runs for three more years. He said the decision was "serious" but showed his "confidence in our democracy, in letting the sovereign people have their say." "In the next few days, I'll be saying what I think is the right direction for the nation. I've heard your message, your concerns, and I won't leave them unanswered," he said. In latest legislative elections in 2022, Macron's centrist party won the most seats but lost its majority at the National Assembly, forcing lawmakers into political maneuvering to pass bills. With Sunday's decision, he is taking a big risk with a move that could backfire and increase the chances of Le Pen to eventually take power. A scenario in which an opposition party would eventually win a parliament majority could lead to a fraught power-sharing situation called "cohabitation," with Macron to name a prime minister with different views. Le Pen, who head the National Rally group at the National Assembly, "welcomed" Macron's move. 'We're ready for it," said Le Pen, who was the runner-up to Macron in the last two presidential elections. "We're ready to exercise power if the French people place their trust in us in these future legislative elections. We're ready to turn the country around, ready to defend the interests of the French, ready to put an end to mass immigration, ready to make the purchasing power of the French a priority." The EU elections results were a hard blow for Macron, who has been advocating for Europe-wide efforts to defend Ukraine and the need for the EU to boost its own defenses and industry. The National Rally's lead candidate for the EU elections, Jordan Bardella, campaigned for limiting free movement of migrants by carrying out national border controls and dialing back EU climate rules. The party no longer wants to leave the EU and the euro, but aims to weaken it from within. "Tonight, our compatriots have expressed a desire for change," Bardella said. "Emmanuel Macron is tonight a weakened president." An official at Macron's office said the decision to dissolve the National Assembly was justified by the "historic score of the far-right" that could not be ignored and the current "parliamentarian disorder." "You're never wrong when you give the people a say," said the official, who spoke anonymously in line with the practice of Macron's office. EU elections' projections also show a resurgence of the Socialist Party, with about 14% of the votes. The party campaigned on more ambitious climate policies and protections for European businesses and workers, with about 14% of the votes. Reacting to Macron's announcement, far-left politician Francois Ruffin called on all leaders from the left, including the Greens to unite under a single "Popular Front" banner. "To avoid the worse, to win," he wrote on X. France is electing 81 members of the European Parliament, which has 720 seats in total.

The unceasing growth of Big Tech has been an article of faith for investors since the latest stock market rally began in October 2022. But with an uninspiring earnings outlook for the rest of 2024, other corners of the market will likely be needed if share prices are to keep soaring. “To have a similar return for the market in the second half, you’d need to see broader participation,” said Keith Lerner, co-chief investment officer and chief market strategist at Truist Advisory Services.That looks like it may happen. While Big Tech’s profit growth is expected to slow dramatically from here, industries like materials and health care are expected to see roughly 25% profit growth by the fourth quarter after posting contractions of 20% or more in the first quarter. 110857951“I think those sectors are starting to look pretty interesting, and I’m talking about energy, materials, consumer discretionary, industrials, financials,” said Ohsung Kwon, equity and quantitative strategist at Bank of America. “I think all those cyclical sectors are going to do better in the second half of the year.”That rotation already appears to be underway. At BofA, clients pulled almost $2.2 billion from tech stocks during the week ended May 31, the second-most in the bank’s data going back to 2008. The biggest client inflows went to the consumer discretionary sector, which is up 1.9% this year, making it the second worst performer in the S&P 500.“Discretionary is traditionally a huge driver of S&P 500 earnings and a place that typically picks up the slack,” said Michael Casper, equity strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence. Can’t Quit TechNone of this is to say investors will, or should, give up on Big Tech. The S&P 500 is up 12% this year, and its five biggest stocks — Microsoft Corp., Apple Inc., Nvidia Corp., Alphabet Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. — are responsible for more than half of that gain with markets captivated by the artificial intelligence boom. In the process, those five companies have added a combined $2.9 trillion in market value in 2024. That’s helped make information technology by far the biggest sector in the S&P 500, with a 31% weighting. The next closest groups are financials and health care at around 12%.What’s more, it’s not like technology companies are done growing. It’s just that the pace of their profit expansion is slowing. After three consecutive quarters of more than 44% earnings growth, the S&P’s five biggest companies are expected to see that figure fall to 29% in the second quarter before settling into the teens in the second half of the year, according to data compiled by BI. “We still think Big Tech will likely outperform, but at a more moderate level,” Lerner said. “Investors will continue to stick with these companies, which are high quality, have strong cash flow, a lot of cash on the balance sheet.”In many ways, the companies are suffering from their past success, as their strong 2023 results make for challenging comparisons to 2024. But the businesses are still increasing profits and generating healthy margins after aggressive cost-cutting efforts.‘Lofty Expectations’“The onus is on Big Tech to live up to lofty expectations,” said Adam Sarhan, founder of 50 Park Investments. “Or else the stock market will be forced to recalibrate and sell off, particularly if profit growth from other sectors doesn’t improve from here.”Part of the challenge for tech investors is the stocks are already quite expensive. Nvidia is priced at 40 times profits projected over the next 12 months, compared with 21 times for the S&P 500. Microsoft is at 33 times, and Apple is at 29 times. Even Alphabet, which is relatively cheaper at 21 times, is trading above its average over the past 10 years. 110857967“As those non-tech sectors start to grow earnings, the premium that investors were paying for tech should come down on a relative basis compared to other sectors,” BofA’s Kwon said.There’s also an emerging asymmetry in the directions of Big Tech stocks as the companies’ earnings outlooks diverge. With investors focused on AI, Nvidia has soared ahead of the pack, climbing 144% this year and continuing as the best performer in the S&P 500. Facebook-parent Meta Platforms has added 39%, while Google-parent Alphabet has climbed 25% and Amazon has gained 21%. Microsoft, on the other hand, hasn’t really kept up, posting a relatively meager 13% rise. And then there’s struggling Apple, which spent most of the year in the red and is up just 2.3% in 2024.“The fundamental business lines of each of these companies aren’t moving in the same direction anymore like during the recovery from the pandemic, so that’s also causing a profit cool down,” BI’s Casper said. “The Magnificent Seven stocks no longer move as one ubiquitous block, and that hurts its earnings potential as a cohort because the trade has now broken up.”Picking SectorsCounting on a lift from the rest of the market carries its own risks, however. For example, health care margins are shaky despite the enthusiasm for anti-obesity drugs because the group is still grappling with charges from big drug companies. Meanwhile, the consumer discretionary sector’s earnings growth is being driven by just a handful of companies, like Amazon and home-improvement retailer Home Depot Inc.That means more sectors beyond those will need to post profit growth, particularly consumer discretionary and those closely tied to the health of the economy: industrials and financials, Casper said. However there are risks embedded in each of these groups.“Consensus earnings forecasts are pretty poor for most retailers not named Amazon,” he said. “Financials and industrials may pick up their pace, though regional banks still face a hangover from (the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank).”In the end, the stock market’s success in 2024 still may come down to Big Tech, directly or indirectly. With AI expected to have a transformational impact on so many industries, technological development will likely spill over into other parts of the economy, lifting those shares along the way. “As long as Big Tech companies continue to deliver on their profit outlooks, that bodes well for the economy,” 50 Park’s Sarhan said. “Which will help power the stock rally further because there are other industries outside of technology that will benefit from AI.”

New Delhi: Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar is as erudite as they come, even by the exalted standards of Indian Foreign Service. His junior colleagues and mentors vouch for his "realistic view of foreign policy" among other skills. This was on display on several occasions since 2022 when he defended India's position on the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Simultaneously, he advanced India's interests with the Quad to balance expansionist tendencies in the Indo-Pacific region. The seasoned diplomat has been categorical that Sino-Indian ties cannot be normalised while tensions continue along the border.But in a power-charged New Delhi, what has proved most handy for this diplomat is altogether a different trait. Jaishankar was the country's longest-serving foreign secretary in recent years and helped craft much of PM Modi's foreign policy.As foreign secretary, he emerged as Modi's unofficial foreign policy adviser. His strength comes from his vast reading, articulation, knowledge of the subject and realistic view of foreign policy. He has focused on pushing economic diplomacy that could bring India the much-needed technology and capital.Jaishankar was also a key member of the team that worked on the nuclear deal with the US. The deal, initiated in 2005, took several years to craft, and was signed by the UPA government headed by Manmohan Singh in 2008. Besides being Ambassador to the USA, he was also envoy in the Czech Republic.A 1977 batch officer of the Indian Foreign Service, Jaishankar was reportedly former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's first choice in 2013 to replace Ranjan Mathai as foreign secretary. But the then PM was reportedly advised by senior leaders of the Congress to go by seniority, and Sujata Singh was appointed.Earlier in his career, Jaishankar had been posted in Moscow and several other European capitals, apart from Tokyo. He also served as First Secretary and Political Advisor to the Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka.For a year, he was the Tata Group's president of Global Corporate Affairs.