Business

New York (AP) — Bond yields rose and stocks mostly bounced back from an early slide to finish with modest losses Friday, a downbeat end on Wall Street to an otherwise milestone-setting week for the broader market.

The small decline snapped a six-day winning streak for the S&P 500, though the benchmark index still notched a weekly gain. The S&P 500 set three straight all-time highs earlier in the week, extending the market’s solid gains in June into July. The S&P is up 19.3% so far this year.

NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government on Friday proposed heavy investments in infrastructure, the digital economy and job creation to lift a sluggish economy burdened with a 45-year-high unemployment rate of 6.1%.

Unveiling a draft budget after a major victory in national elections, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Sitharaman proposed a bigger role for foreign direct investment in aviation, media and insurance.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran should consider seizing a British oil tanker in response to authorities detaining an Iranian oil tanker off the coast of Gibraltar, a former leader of the Islamic Republic’s powerful Revolutionary Guard said Friday.

The striking comment by Mohsen Rezaei came amid heightened tensions over Iran’s unraveling 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, an accord that the U.S. withdrew from last year.

5 July 2019; MEMO: Israel Hayom reported, Thursday, that Israel is disappointed with the expected appointment of Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrell as the new EU High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.

According to the newspaper, Borrell will replace the current High Representative, Federica Mogherini, who was an unpopular figure in Israel because of her stubborn support for the Iran nuclear deal and for her relatively pro-Palestinian tendencies.

5 July 2019; MEMO: Saudi Arabia is holding an Iranian oil tanker in the port of Jeddah, sources in Tehran said yesterday. The tanker docked in Jeddah for emergency repairs following “engine failure and the loss of control” two months ago.

Now the Saudi authorities are demanding that Iran should pay $200,000 for every day that the vessel has been in dock, Russia Today has reported.

5 July 2019; MEMO: French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Thursday he hoped a special trade channel set up with Iran would complete a first, limited transaction in the coming days, Reuters reports.

Set up by France, Britain and Germany, Instex is a barter trade mechanism that aims to avoid direct financial transfers by offsetting balances between importers and exporters on the European side.

5 July 2019; DW: A supertanker suspected of transporting oil to Syria in violation of EU sanctions was detained by British marines on Thursday off the coast of the British territory of Gibraltar.

The Grace 1 tanker was detained for trying to take oil to Syria in violation of European Union sanctions, a spokesman for the British territory said on Friday.

Srinagar, Jul 5; PTI/GANASHAKTI: Peoples United Front -- an alliance between the parties of bureaucrat-turned-politician Shah Faesal and former MLA Sheikh Abdul Rashid --  Friday staged a sit-in here to protest the ban on civilian traffic on a stretch of Srinagar-Jammu national highway for over five hours a day during Amarnath yatra.

Beijing, Jul 4; GANASHAKTI: China Thursday accorded a red carpet welcome to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who held wide ranging talks with her Chinese counterpart

Li Keqiang to further consolidate bilateral ties and signed nine agreements.

The nine instruments - five agreements, three memorandums of understanding (MoUs) and a document - were signed in different sectors ranging from aid for the Rohingyas and economic and technical cooperation, investment, power, culture and tourism.

New Delhi, July 4;  IANS/GANASHAKTI:  Alleging that private passenger trains will start operating within 100 days, the CPI-M has come out strongly against what it says is the government's planned privatisation of Indian Railways.

"The Modi government's second coming is going to be marked by a stepped up privatisation drive. Already the Niti Aayog has announced that 46 public sector enterprises will be sold off or shut down as per a 100 day action plan," said an editorial in CPI-M journal "People's Democracy".