Are we at the cusp of a huge asset price bubble, Yes Bank shareholders at a crossroads; all this and more on Moneycontrol Pro

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Are we at the cusp of a huge asset price bubble?

The Sensex hit a record high last week, as did the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq. The MSCI Emerging Markets equity index went up. Risk appetite is back with a bang. And why not? Last week Fed chairman Jerome Powell not only delivered a rate cut, but also said, ‘I think we would need to see a really significant move up in inflation that’s persistent before we would consider raising rates to address inflation concerns.’ Simply put--no inflation, no rate hike. What could go wrong? Read more.

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What does trend in real rural wage growth shows?

The health of the Indian economy and of earnings growth in companies is at present crucially dependent on a pick-up in consumption. With exports and investment unlikely to increase soon and with government finances under pressure, a recovery in private consumption is essential for recovery. There’s a lot of hope that rural consumption will do better on the back of a good monsoon, better minimum support prices and income transfers to farmers. What does the latest data show? Read more.

Yes Bank: Caught between the lure of new capital and drag of toxic assets

Yes Bank shareholders are standing at a crossroads. On the one hand, there is the lure of substantial capital commitment by marquee investors, while on the other, earnings quality is getting worse with mounting pressure from toxic assets and business contraction. The bank management highlighted that it has received a binding offer of $1.2 billion from a global investor and in addition received eight bids from global investors worth close to $1.5 billion. The stock has had a decent rally (up 143 percent from its 52-week low) in recent times and the moot question is: how much more steam is left in the stock? Read more.

Pegasus jitters: Tips to safeguard yourself from hackers and cyber snoopers

Pegasus is the most sophisticated spyware rampage so far, compromising infected phones completely after infiltrating through a WhatsApp call. Israel’s NSO Group, which created Pegasus, sells its services to governments, and the known targets in India have been activists, lawyers and journalists. While Pegasus is a high-end surveillance operation, all sorts of crooks, charlatans and criminals are stalking cyber-space, looking for opportunities to compromise your digital security and privacy. How do you protect yourself? Read more in the first part of our new series called #LifeHacks.

The government should set an example to the private sector on corporate governance

In July this year, the government passed The Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2019. It also fixed the penalties to be levied in case corporate governance norms were not complied with. It exhorted regulators to ensure that corporate entities were compelled to strictly observe corporate governance norms. The government had made such pronouncements in December 2018 as well, but this time, harsher penalties were introduced. But there is a big problem with the government’s stand on improving corporate governance — it is one of double standards. Read more.

Picks from our technical analysts

Titan: Titan was in an uptrend but is now showing signs of exhaustion. Our chartist is assuming it will go bearish or sideways and remain below Rs 1,420. Click here for an options trading idea.

Axis Bank: The price of Axis Bank shows a breakout of a nice rounding pattern. Click here for a futures trading idea.