A JPMorgan analyst recently lowered his price target on 3M stock to $110 from $118 and retained his neutral rating on it. That new price target still anticipates a near-20% upside over 12 months from the current price of about $92, highlighting the stock's value case. It looks like a downgrade, but in reality, the change reflects the spin off of 3M's healthcare business, now trading as Solventum.

Wipro's chief executive officer (CEO) Srinivas Pallia, on April 19, outlined five key focus areas to turn around the company in the days to come. This was in response to how the new CEO plans to take charge and drive growth, at a time when not just the market demand is tepid but Wipro's inherent challenges have led to consistent dwindling of market share.

Bitcoin’s dominance in the cryptocurrency sector has surged to a three-year high, capturing nearly 55% of the $2.4 trillion market for virtual currencies, according to CoinMarketCap data. The success of the newly introduced U.S. spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs), including offerings from BlackRock Inc. and Fidelity Investments, has been remarkable, amassing approximately $56 billion in assets.

The market regulator has proposed a call auction for shares of certain kinds of listed investment companies (ICs) and listed investment holding companies (IHCs), so that there is a fair-price discovery of these securities. This option was proposed after industry representatives informed the regulator that its circuit filters are hindering fair-price discovery for these shares.

Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole and Societe Generale are likely to make requests to German and French financial authorities to grant an extension of an October 2024 deadline by at least six months to transact with the Clearing Corporation of India. BNP Paribas declined to comment on the matter, while ET's queries emailed to the other three banks did not elicit a response by press time.

When VinFast Auto (NASDAQ: VFS) reported its first-quarter financial update this week, it had a mixed report for investors. The Vietnamese electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer reaffirmed that it expects to produce 100,000 EVs this year. But its first-quarter vehicle production and revenue were still a disappointment.That led analysts at investment banking firm BTIG to lower their stock price target.

India, the world’s third biggest oil importer and consumer, discussed recent trends and volatility in the global oil market and their impact on global energy stability with OPEC secretary general on Friday, a government statement said. India imports more than 85% of its oil needs and traditionally relies on Middle Eastern oil producers, most members of the OPEC, for most of its requirements.

Wipro ADR (American Depository Receipts) jumped 3.78 percent to $5.36 on the NYSE on April 19 after the IT major’s fourth-quarter earnings beat street estimates. The net profit fell 8 percent to Rs 2,835 crore in the quarter ended March 2024 from Rs 3,074.5 crore in the year-ago period, beating analysts' estimates of Rs 2,748 crore. The revenue slumped to Rs 22,208.3 crore in the three months.

In 1894, Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) began selling talc as Johnson's Baby Powder. But the company's talc products became a liability, and Johnson & Johnson has been under fire for a decade for a myriad of cases alleging that its talc-based baby powder has caused cancer. Most of these claims are over women who got ovarian cancer, but others involved mesothelioma.

Hindustan Zinc's demerger process will kickstart once the central government, which owns roughly 29 percent in the mining company, completes its long pending divestment process, chief executive officer Arun Misra told Moneycontrol in an interview on April 19. Moneycontrol reported last year that the government was weighing offloading only 3.5% of its stake via OFS route in the initial tranche.

Wipro managed to post six sequential quarters of headcount decline as of the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2024, and a second consecutive full year of headcount drop. But the IT services major is not looking to go back to campus to hunt new talent anytime soon. According to Saurabh Govil, chief human resources officer (CHRO) of Wipro, the company is yet to complete onboarding of freshers.

Tata Group may strike a deal to take control of Pegatron Corp.’s iPhone manufacturing operations in India as soon as May, cementing Apple Inc.’s relationship with one of the country’s most influential conglomerates. Tata Group is in the final stages of negotiations with Pegatron to take a majority stake in the Taiwanese firm’s Apple handset assembly operations in India.

The Board of Directors of Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd (ABFRL), at its meeting on April 19, approved the proposal of vertical demerger of business from ABFRL into a newly incorporated company named Aditya Birla Lifestyle Brands Ltd. (ABLBL), which will be listed separately on completion of the demerger. The announcement comes after the company's board at its meeting on April 1.

State-owned Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) reported a 26.41 per cent increase in the total premium collected in March 2024 to Rs 36,300.62 crore compared to Rs 28,716.23 crore in the same month a year ago. LIC was followed by SBI Life Insurance Company in premium collection growth at 24.76 per cent. ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company reported a 12.58 per cent growth.

Gold and silver prices soared to fresh record high levels on Friday with the precious metal breaching Rs 74,000 per 10 grams mark here on bullish global trends. According to HDFC Sec, gold price jumped Rs 400 to hit its lifetime high of Rs 74,100 per 10 grams in Delhi. It had closed at Rs 73,700 per 10 grams on Thursday. Similarly, silver prices rose by Rs 100 to hit new peak of Rs 86,600 per kg.