🗓 Morning, folks!

Markets aren’t shaking off the choppiness just yet. Sensex & Nifty ended flat, with pharma and autos dragging down gains.

Back in the West, S&P edged up 0.24%, while Nasdaq moved up a tiny inch—both continuously pushing against all time highs.

💡 Spotlight: Gold prices reached an all-time high of ₹89,400 per 10 grams. The yellow metal has been on a tear, rallying 12.6% this year alone.

A mix of safe-haven demand, Trump’s fresh tariff threats, and global uncertainty is fueling the surge.

Let’s hit it. 🚀

Just when you thought the AI race was too much to keep up with, Microsoft shot back with a quantum win.

The company launched a new quantum computing chip yesterday, using technology the company calls “topological qubits”, which makes quantum computing more stable.

The latest chip is called Majorana 1, and here’s how it looks.

The deets: Quantum computers work differently from regular computers. Instead of bits that are either 0 or 1, quantum computers use qubits, which can be both 0 and 1 at the same time, unlocking greater computing power.

But there’s a catch: qubits are fragile and extremely error-prone.

Today, companies like Google and IBM have focused on fixing this problem by stacking more qubits together and correcting the errors as they happen. This approach hasn’t been that successful so far.

Microsoft is flipping the script. Instead of fixing errors after they happen, it’s designing qubits that are naturally more resistant to errors in the first place.

Majorana 1, currently houses eight qubits but is designed to scale up to one million, a number that could make practical quantum applications possible.

Why it matters: Right now, quantum computing is mostly a research experiment, it’s useful for theoretical problems but not yet practical for everyday industries.

• If you’re curious, there’s roughly 4 quantum pure play stocks listed in the US. Combined, they have a $15B or so market cap, and not much to show for it.

Qatar is making a big move in India, committing $10 billion in fresh investments following a high-level meeting between PM Modi and Qatar’s Emir.

The deets: the investment will span infrastructure, technology, manufacturing, logistics, and food security.

The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), a prolific investor in private enterprise, is also setting up shop in India, signaling deeper economic ties.

Why it matters: Qatar already has $1.5 billion invested in India, and with energy security a key priority, this deal strengthens India’s access to LNG while deepening economic ties.

Worth noting: Bilateral trade between India and Qatar stands at $14 billion annually, with both sides aiming to double it in five years.

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Oyo is bringing its European vacation home brand, DanCenter, to India, starting with luxury villas in Goa.

The deets: DanCenter, founded in Denmark in 1957, manages 12,000+ vacation homes across Europe. Acquired by Oyo in 2019, it will now launch premium serviced apartments in India, with talks underway with real estate giant Provident Group.

Bigger picture: Oyo is doubling down on global expansion. It recently acquired France’s CheckMyGuests for $27.4 million and G6 Hospitality (parent of Motel 6) in the US for $525 million.

By the numbers: Oyo’s Q3 FY25 net profit jumped 6x YoY to ₹166 crore, with revenue up 31% to ₹1,695 crore.

So far, Oyo’s focus has narrowly been on the budget traveler, but a shift towards premiumisation opens more growth possibilities. IPO investors will love that.

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🚆 RVNL surged over 11% after securing a ₹554 crore order from Rail Infrastructure Development Company for construction work.

This comes shortly after RVNL secured a ₹335.4 crore contract this month from South Western Railway to install Kavach across 790 route km in the Hubballi and Mysuru divisions.

The order win helped the stock snap a three-day losing streak.

🪖 Kalyani Strategic Systems (KSSL), a subsidiary of Bharat Forge, signed a landmark agreement with AM General, USA, to supply advanced artillery cannons.

KSSL will supply mounted, towed, and ultra-light artillery in 105mm and 155mm calibers.

For context, KSSL builds advanced weapon systems, and this deal strengthens Bharat Forge’s global defense presence boosting India’s role in arms exports.

Despite the milestone, Bharat Forge shares ended 0.1% lower, in line with minor losses on the benchmark indices.

Coffee prices have surged to $420 per pound in 2025, marking an all-time high for the commodity.

This spike is driven by droughts in Brazil, supply chain disruptions, rising global demand, and stockpiling.

The most immediate impact will be felt on your wallet when buying that morning latte.

🛺 Uber goes Rapido: Uber is ditching commissions and testing a subscription model for cash-only auto rides, taking a page from Rapido’s playbook.

🚀 Chandrayaan 5: ISRO is heading back to the moon with Chandrayaan 5, set to launch in two stages one month apart.

📲 Creator play: Meesho is launching a creator marketplace platform after seeing 14 million influencer-led purchases last year.

That’s a wrap! Don’t let the weekday blues get to you.

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Hit that 💚 if you liked this issue.

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