First State loans OMO on Oct. 22: RBI

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday said it would conduct Open Market Operation (OMO) purchase of State Developments Loans as per its October 9 announcement. The OMO is to be conducted on October 22 for ₹10,000 crore.

“Depending on market response, the size of the auctions may be enhanced in subsequent auctions,” the RBI said in a statement.

RBI will purchase the SDLs through a multi-security auction using the multiple price method. There is no security-wise notified amount.

Commercial vehicle sales fall 20% in July-September: SIAM

Volumes lower than in FY16, says Ayukawa; PV sales robust.

Commercial vehicle sales, which are usually seen as an indicator of economic activity, fell 20.13% to about 1.33 lakh units in the July-September 2020 quarter as compared with about 1.67 lakh units in same period last year.

SIAM has begun releasing wholesales CV sales data only for the full quarter. For the CV segment, the volumes are lower than in the comparable period of FY16, SIAM president Kenichi Ayukawa said. Meanwhile, passenger vehicle (PV) dispatches to dealers recorded a strong double-digit growth of 26.45% in September.

While cars sales rose 28.92% to more than 1.63 lakh units in September 2020 from about 1.27 lakh units in the year earlier month, sales of utility vehicles and vans increased 24.5% to 96,633 units and 10.64% to 11,413 units, respectively. Two-wheeler sales grew 11.64% to more than 18.49 lakh units as against over 16.56 lakh units in the same month last year. Data showed a year-on-year growth of 17.30% for motorcycles to over 12.24 lakh units and a marginal increase in sales of scooters at about 5.56 lakh units.

Three-wheeler sales plunged almost 72% to 18,640 units in September as against 66,362 units in the year-ago month.

California says Trump reversed denial of wildfire relief

(Reuters) – California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday said U.S. President Donald Trump reversed his administration’s decision to deny a state request for additional federal wildfire aid.

“Just got off the phone with President Trump who has approved our Major Disaster Declaration request,” Newsom said in a statement. “Grateful for his quick response.”

Oil Futures Settle Marginally Lower

Crude oil prices rebounded from the session’s lows but still ended marginally lower on Friday as worries about the demand outlook amid the continued surge in coronavirus cases weighed on the commodity.

Several countries across Europe have imposed fresh restrictions to curb the spread of virus infections.

Several states in the U.S. have also seen a surge in new cases and an increasing number of hospitalizations over the past few days.

West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November ended down $0.08 or about 0.2% at $40.88 a barrel, recovering from a low of $40.08 a barrel touched around mid-morning.

WTI crude oil futures for November gained about 0.7% in the week.

According to a report from Baker Hughes, the U.S. oil-ring count rose for a fourth week in a row, with active-oils count surging up by 12 to 205.

Active drilling-rig count rose by 13 to 282 this week, the report said.

Despite lingering concerns over the demand recovery, OPEC and its allies plan to taper the ongoing oil production cuts as of January 2021, as initially agreed.

OPEC’s Secretary General Mohammad Barkindo said on the Energy Intellgency Forum on Thursday that keeping market stability is the top priority of the OPEC+ agreement but added, “We have no illusions this recovery will take a long time.”

An OPEC+ meeting, scheduled to take place on Nov 30 – Dec 1, will decide on the group’s next policy move with regard to production cuts.

Buying a House? Arnold the Air Traffic Control Tower Is for Sale

It has a “great location” and is packed with potential for property buyers. It’s also an air traffic control tower known locally as Arnold.

The old tower at Wellington Airport, built in 1957 and operating until 2018, was put on sale this week. Aside from the “phenomenal views” from its top floor, features include a cramped floor plan, narrow stair access to all four levels, one toilet and a lack of natural light in many areas, New Zealand’s air navigation service provider Airways said in a statement.

The tower needs earthquake strengthening and asbestos removal. But it does have its own letterbox and residential address.

“We will have some mixed feelings about seeing it go,” Airways Chief Financial Officer James Young said. “While we know it’s most likely that the property will be bought by a developer and cleared to build new homes, it’s nice to imagine the old tower being given a new life through some creative grand design.”

The land where the tower sits has been rezoned to allow it to be used for residential development. Wellington’s Tommy’s Real Estate is in charge of the sale, and the commission will go charity.

Slack says it has resolved issues with its software that caused some users to experience issues

• Some Slack users said they experienced issues Friday morning, including trouble sending messages or just generally slow service with the software.
• The company told Business Insider that Slack is now back up and running.
• This is one of several partial or total outages that the company has experienced during the pandemic as people continue to work remotely.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Slack has resolved issues that were affecting its service on Friday, the company told Business Insider. Its website now reads "Slack is up and running." 

Some Slack users said they were experiencing "degraded performances and connectivity issues" with the workplace messaging software on Friday morning.

"Users may have issues sending messages, APIs or general slowness on Slack," the company had earlier posted on its website.

This is one of several partial or total outages that the company has faced during the pandemic as people continue to work remotely and rely heavily on virtual work tools. In mid-May, the service was down for two-and-a-half hours one evening.