U.S. carrier JetBlue raised its second-quarter fuel costs forecast on Monday as shipping disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz entered a fourth month, driving up jet fuel prices and increasing pressure on the global aviation industry.

Shares of the airline fell 9% in morning trading.

The U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran ‌closed the ⁠critical Strait, a ⁠vital route for nearly a fifth of global oil and gas supplies.

Jet fuel, which had averaged about $85 to $90 a barrel before the strikes in February, was hovering near $142 per barrel in the last week of May, according to the International Air Transport Association.

Fuel price volatility has prompted airlines across the globe to hike passenger fares and baggage fees to recover higher costs, as well as cut flight frequency ⁠and routes ‌to limit fuel usage.

Higher fuel prices disproportionately pressure smaller carriers such as JetBlue, given their limited financial flexibility and heightened exposure to uncertainty.

JetBlue had ⁠suspended its full-year outlook in April and said it planned to slow hiring, cut capacity and hike fares.The airline now expects fuel to cost $4.26 to $4.36 per gallon in the second quarter, compared with an earlier forecast of between $4.13 and $4.28.

“However, this guide was underwritten using the May 22 Brent forward curve, which has since improved,” said Raymond James analyst Savanthi Syth.

JetBlue also said it expects to “recapture 40% or more of increased fuel costs in the ‌quarter”, helped by consistent operational performance.

The airline raised its forecast for revenue growth per available seat mile, a proxy for pricing power, to a range of 9% to 12%, versus ⁠between 7% and 11% forecast earlier.

Rival American Airlines said last week it expects strong demand to cushion the hit from rising fuel costs.

JetBlue also reported “outperformance” in routes previously operated by Spirit Airlines after the distressed carrier shut down.

JetBlue is beginning to fill the void left by Spirit, particularly at Fort Lauderdale in Florida, Syth added.

“Although it remains early in the third quarter booking curve, we are encouraged current trends may carry forward,” JetBlue said in a regulatory filing.

Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has announced a one-time relaxation for listed companies struggling to meet Minimum Public Shareholding (MPS) norms, citing challenging market conditions driven by ongoing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.

Sebi’s relief comes following representations from industry bodies highlighting the difficulties in achieving compliance amid volatile markets. The regulator has decided to ease these provisions temporarily.

The relaxation takes effect immediately, with stock exchanges instructed to notify listed entities and make necessary amendments to their rules and regulations to implement the directive.

Under existing rules, companies that fail to comply with MPS requirements face penal actions such as fines, freezing of promoter shareholding and other restrictions as outlined in Sebi’s master circular on listing obligations.

Sebi said that listed entities whose deadlines for meeting MPS norms fall between April 1, 2026 and September 30, 2026 will be exempt from penal actions during this period. Stock exchanges and depositories have been directed not to initiate any punitive measures against such companies. Additionally, any penalties already imposed for non-compliance during this window will be withdrawn.

The move comes as heightened uncertainty and subdued investor participation have made it difficult for companies to dilute promoter holdings and raise public shareholding to mandated levels.

Earlier today, Sebi provided relief to companies planning to tap the capital markets by granting a one-time extension for the validity of its observation letters, citing challenging market conditions due to ongoing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.Under existing norms, companies are required to launch their public issues within 12 to 18 months from the date of receiving SEBI’s observations. However, the regulator noted that issuers are facing difficulties in mobilising funds and accessing capital markets amid subdued investor participation and heightened uncertainty.

Read more: Sebi grants one-time extension for IPO observation validity amid geopolitical volatility

(Disclaimer: The recommendations, suggestions, views, and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times.)

The domestic stock market is expected to remain volatile this week as investors track the Reserve Bank’s monetary policy decision, key global macroeconomic data and the impact of the West Asia conflict, analysts said.

Movements in crude oil prices and foreign fund flows will also influence domestic equities, they added.

Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Ltd, said the RBI’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting will command centre stage domestically, with investors closely watching the central bank’s stance on inflation and growth.

“A rate pause is near-certain consensus, the central bank walks a tightrope between crude-driven inflation risks and a four-year low Manufacturing PMI signalling a softening growth impulse. The governor’s commentary on the rate cycle trajectory and FY27 projections will be closely monitored.

“Globally, the US March CPI reading will carry significant importance, as it buries residual Fed rate-cut hopes, strengthens the dollar and tightens financial conditions for emerging markets, including India,” Nair said.

He noted that geopolitical developments in West Asia will remain the overarching factor influencing market sentiment.

“Indian markets return after a three-day gap and remain acutely vulnerable to weekend war developments, with crude trajectory and any credible ceasefire signal being the decisive variable that could either trigger a sharp relief rally or extend the current sell-on-rise mode,” Nair added.In a holiday-shortened last week, the BSE benchmark Sensex declined 263.67 points, or 0.35 per cent, and the NSE Nifty fell 106.5 points, or 0.46 per cent.

Siddhartha Khemka – Head of Research, Wealth Management, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd, said Indian equities are likely to remain volatile this week, with investor sentiment closely tied to evolving developments in the ongoing West Asia conflict.

Brent crude prices have remained elevated near USD 107 per barrel, sustaining concerns around imported inflation. Currency pressures have also intensified, with the rupee weakening sharply before recovering towards Rs 93 against the US dollar, aided by RBI intervention, he added.

Foreign institutional investor (FII) selling remains another key overhang, with March witnessing intense outflows of Rs 1.2 lakh crore, among the highest monthly outflows in the last several years.

“Investors will monitor the US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting minutes, GDP data, and initial jobless claims for further cues on growth and the policy trajectory.

“Overall, markets are expected to remain volatile as geopolitical developments, crude price movements, FII flows and global macro data continue to drive sentiment,” Khemka said.

According to analysts, any signs of de-escalation in the West Asia conflict may provide relief through softer crude prices and currency stability, while further escalation could prolong risk aversion and sustain pressure on foreign flows.

Taiwan’s justice ministry is sitting on 210 Bitcoin, seized from criminals and worth roughly $14 million. Most governments would treat that as a footnote. The Bitcoin Policy Institute thinks it should be a starting point.

A Case Built On Worst-Case Scenarios

In a report published Tuesday, BPI research fellow Jacob Langenkamp made the case that Taiwan should build a national Bitcoin reserve — not mainly as a financial play, but as protection against the possibility of a Chinese military blockade or invasion.

His argument is simple: if China cuts Taiwan off, gold cannot be moved and dollar reserves can be frozen. Bitcoin, he wrote, requires no physical transport and remains accessible regardless of what happens on the ground.

Taiwan’s central bank had already looked at the idea and walked away from it. In December, the bank concluded that Bitcoin was too volatile, too hard to store safely, and too thin in liquidity to serve as a reserve asset.

Source: Bitcoin Policy Institute

It pointed to the US dollar as the more sensible option. Langenkamp acknowledged those concerns are real — but argued they can be solved with the right institutional know-how on custody and risk management.

The Dollar Problem Analysts Say Taiwan Is Ignoring

The report’s broader warning centers on how exposed Taiwan already is to the US dollar. At least 80% of the central bank’s reserves are held in dollar-denominated assets, and most of its trade runs through the same currency.

Source: Bitcoin Policy Institute

Langenkamp listed several pressures that could erode the dollar’s value over time — rising US government debt, Federal Reserve money expansion, a possible downturn in AI-sector valuations, and shrinking semiconductor revenues.

Bitcoin, he argued, could pair with gold to offer a buffer against those risks, giving Taiwan’s central bank a hedge before other countries make the same move.

Taiwan’s central bank did not fully close the door after its December decision. Officials said the bank would continue testing digital asset technology through a sandbox program, using crypto the country already holds.

The Numbers Behind Taiwan’s Existing Holdings

The 210 Bitcoin figure came from lawmaker Ko Ju-Chun, who disclosed it on social media last year. According to data from crypto treasury tracker BitBo, those holdings — if officially counted — would rank Taiwan seventh among nations holding Bitcoin, just behind El Salvador and ahead of Finland. The country is not currently listed in BitBo’s national reserve rankings.

Whether Taiwan’s government acts on the BPI report remains to be seen. The think tank has no formal role in Taiwanese policy, and the central bank’s position has not changed.

But the report adds a new dimension to the global debate over Bitcoin as a state-level asset — one that goes beyond economics and into the question of what a country does when access to its own money is at risk.

Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday expressed gratitude towards Gulf nations for assistance to Indians residing there amid the West Asia conflict and noted that India is facing the global fuel crisis resolutely.

In the 132nd episode of his radio show Mann Ki Baat, PM Modi asked political parties and citizens not to politicise the West Asia conflict and avoid spreading rumours.

Noting the global turbulence amid the conflict between US-Israel and Iran, he said, ‘‘The month of March has been eventful at a global level. In the past, the entire world faced numerous problems for a long time due to the COVID. We all expected that after emerging through the COVID crisis, the world would move forward on the path of progress with a fresh start. But conditions of war and conflict continued to emerge in different regions of the world. Currently, a fierce war has been going on for a month in our neighbourhood. Relatives of lakhs of families reside in these countries, and particularly work in the Gulf countries. I am grateful to Gulf countries for providing every kind of assistance to over one crore Indians there.’‘

‘‘A crisis is developing around the world regarding petrol and diesel. Our global relations, the support we receive from various countries, and the strengths we have built over the past decade have enabled India to face these challenges resolutely. These are certainly challenging times. Today, through ‘Mann Ki Baat,’ I will once again urge all my countrymen that we must unite and overcome this challenge,’‘ the Prime Minister added.

Further, in a veiled jibe at the opposition, he said that there is ‘‘no place for self-serving politics.’‘

‘‘All those politicising the issue should not do it. This issue is connected to the interests of 140 crore Indians, and there is no place for self-serving politics. All those spreading rumours are causing great harm to the country. I would also like to appeal to all countrymen to remain vigilant and not be misled by rumours. Trust the constant information provided by the government and take action based on that,’‘ he said.

The conflict in West Asia began with Israel-US strikes on Iran on February 28, killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. As Iran retaliated, it widened the ambit of the conflict, affecting its neighbours in the region. While the crude oil prices increased in the global markets, the Centre has decided to slash the excise duty on petrol and diesel.

Amid the reported LPG crisis, the government has decided to move to Piped Natural Gas (PNG), fast-tracking the infrastructure for laying the pipelines.

PM Modi on Saturday held a telephonic conversation with Crown Prince and PM of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, during which both leaders discussed the ongoing conflict in West Asia. 

He has held conversations with several global leaders, including US President Donald Trump, amid the tensions in the region. 

Source: ANI 

–Agencies 

 

“If I’m unhappy with work you have done, you will hear from me within 48 hours,” French Gates told Bloomberg Business‘s Leaders with Francine Lacqua podcast this week. “I’m not going to tell you right away, because I need time to think it through.”

“If I’m angry about something [I do this] to calm down,” she added. “That’s on me.”

This practice, she explained, is less about withholding criticism and more about delivering it with honesty, integrity, and grace. The flip side of the 48-hour clock is just as deliberate. If the window closes without any feedback, that means employees are in the clear. 

“If they pass the 48-hour mark, they can be confident that the job they did was a good job,” she said. “You’re not going to get to your performance review and have a surprise.”

This is a practice the billionaire philanthropist has been honing for decades. She cochaired the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the world’s largest private charitable organization, from 2000 until she stepped down in 2024, about three years after the couple’s divorce. 

Today, French Gates runs her own organization, Pivotal Ventures, an investment and incubation company she founded in 2015 to advance opportunities for women and families in the U.S. As part of her divorce settlement from the Microsoft founder, French Gates received $12.5 billion to direct toward philanthropic work through Pivotal. She committed an additional $1 billion each year through 2026 to advance women’s power globally.

Melinda French Gates’ approach to leadership and how it compares to other executives

Bloomberg’s Lacqua framed French Gates’ approach to feedback as her “leadership superpower,” one that requires emotional discipline and candor. 

“Being clear is kind,” French Gates responded, “because I’m giving them feedback so they can actually grow and become better.”

French Gates also described her 48-hour feedback mantra as maintaining personal integrity while keeping the other person’s dignity intact: “gracious, thoughtful, before you go into it.”

Her philosophy conflicts with some of the more aggressive feedback cultures from other executives. Ray Dalio, for example, built his firm’s culture around what he calls “radical transparency,” a system in which employees at every level are expected to deliver unfiltered, real-time criticism, and nearly every meeting is recorded for post-mortem analysis.

“If you start to realize, intellectually, that being really truthful with each other is something that is to be treasured,” Dalio told Business Insider. “It’ll build trust.” 

“There’s a lot of trust that’s going on,” added Dalio, who founded Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund firm. He even recalled to Business Insider a time in which a junior staffer sent him an email grading his performance in a meeting as a “D-” for being disorganized.

So while Dalio prefers immediacy and unvarnished feedback, French Gates opts for more reflection time and a respectful tone.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella takes a slightly different approach. When he took the helm of Microsoft, he pushed to transform a “know-it-all” culture into a “learn-it-all” culture—one grounded in humility, curiosity, and psychological safety. It’s a mantra inspired by American psychologist Carol Dweck, who is best known for her research on motivation and mindset.

“If you take two people, one of them is a learn-it-all and the other one is a know-it-all, the learn-it-all will always trump the know-it-all in the long run, even if they start with less innate capability,” Nadella told Bloomberg in a 2016 interview.

Still, French Gates is clear she doesn’t shy away from difficult conversations. 

“I don’t mind conflict,” she told Bloomberg. “I learned to do it in a way for me that maintained my integrity.” 

Global financial markets are expected to remain influenced by the ongoing conflict in West Asia, with risk aversion likely to persist amid rising uncertainty, according to a report by ICICI Bank.

The report said that “markets are expected to continue to get shaped by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East that has so far not shown signs of de-escalating,” adding that “risk aversion is expected to remain in place.”

According to the report, prior to the conflict, the base-case scenario assumed that “the tariff pass through would start to fade and that would push US inflation gradually lower and labour markets would remain weak that could open scope for a 50bps cumulative cut over 2H2026.”

However, the report cautioned that “the outlook could get shaped by the ongoing conflict and in particular whether there is a structural pick-up in crude prices,” which the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) may need to consider in its projections.

It added that “there are risks of the FOMC possibly back-loading easing, although it is too early to call at the current juncture,” with the outlook depending on “the duration of the Middle East conflict and permanent impact it has on oil prices.”

The report highlighted that the FOMC maintained status quo on policy rates while “explicitly acknowledged the build-up of uncertainty in the outlook from the ongoing conflict in the Middle East” and also recognised weakness in the labour market.

Despite the geopolitical challenges, the report noted that the FOMC raised its GDP growth projections and also revised inflation forecasts upward, with “the 2 per cent target expected to be achieved by 2028.”However, there was no change in policy rate guidance, with “the median of members expected 25bps cut in 2026 and 25bps cut in 2027.”

The report added that FOMC Chair Jerome Powell “emphasized that the central bank will maintain a data-dependent response” and highlighted that “considerable uncertainty persists about the impact of the conflict on the outlook on the economy.”

It also warned that “higher energy prices and pass-through of the same into consumer prices implies risk of a possible delay” in rate cuts if oil prices remain elevated.

For markets, the report said the FOMC meeting was “largely a non-event,” but added that “the conflict in the Middle East is likely to drive price action ensuring that risk aversion remains dominant,” with US yields expected to drift higher and the global dollar likely to remain supported. (ANI)