This should be the time for gold to shine. The yellow metal has the perfect opportunity to demonstrate its role as a shield for investors against inflation and geopolitics.

Instead, it has crumbled: At one point Thursday it was down 14% from before the Israeli-U.S. war against Iran began. Investors would have been better off in the tiniest microcap stocks than in the oldest source of safety.

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Pune: India’s food consumption is showing early signs of strain as the Iran-Israel conflict disrupts LPG availability, squeezing both households and businesses that rely on gas for daily cooking.

Consumption across key food commodities has weakened over the past three weeks, led by a sharp pullback from hotels, restaurants and the country’s vast network of street food vendors, a key driver of edible oil, flour and poultry demand, especially in the unbranded segment.

Wheat flour sales have fallen 5-7%, reflecting reduced offtake from bread and biscuit makers, while cooking oil demand is down about 6%.

“The demand for refined wheat flour (maida) from the bakery industry for bread and biscuits has reduced by about 5-7% since last 15-20 days due to the shortage of LPG fuel and is feared to go down further,” said Rohit Khaitan, vice president at the Roller Flour Millers’ Federation of India. “With the new crop already in the market, this may put the prices of wheat further under stress.”

The pressure is most visible in the edible oil market, where the bulk consumers have cut purchases. Hotels, restaurants and catering services along with millions of street-side vendors typically consume about 3.5 lakh tonnes of palm oil and 1.5 lakh tonnes of soybean oil each month.

That demand has shrunk.
“The consumption of palm oil by hotels, restaurants and canteens has declined by 40%… while soybean oil consumption is down by about 25%,” said Sandeep Bajoria, chief executive officer at Sunvin Group. Overall, demand from institutional and small food businesses has fallen 30-35%, he said.Yet prices haven’t eased.

“Although edible oil consumption has declined due to reduced demand from hotels and restaurants, the increase in freight, forex and fuel prices are keeping cooking oil prices firm in the off season,” said BV Mehta, executive director of the Solvent Extractors’ Association of India.

The disruption indicates the critical role of informal food networks from office canteens to roadside stalls in driving commodity demand. With LPG supplies constrained, many of these operators have cut hours, trimmed menus, or temporarily shut shop, hitting consumption at the margin.

Demand for gram flour, or besan, a staple for India’s fried snacks, has dropped 10-12% as roadside eateries and small food businesses scale back or shut operations due to fuel shortage.

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Scott Stember – ROTH Capital Partners, LLC, Research Division

Presentation

Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan on Monday sent a letter to shareholders along with the firm’s annual report that detailed the bank’s history and its role in America’s growth as the nation prepares to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the country’s founding.

Moynihan noted that Bank of America’s oldest legacy institution, The Massachusetts Bank, was formed in 1784, just one year after the Revolutionary War concluded with the Treaty of Paris. The bank’s depositors helped the firm grow by lending money to new and expanding businesses that made up the early U.S. economy.

“From our country’s earliest days, we supported those communities. We have supported the development of American capitalism. We did what a bank does – help its customers and clients grow,” Moynihan wrote. “Bank of America’s legacy banks formed in communities around the country, and were there every step of the way as those communities filled out our nation.”

Bank of America also traces its roots to franchises in New England that date back to the early days of the country, as well its North Carolina company, which is the surviving company of those legacy banks and was formed over 150 years ago to help finance the development of the region’s industries as the U.S. developed from an agrarian society to an industrial society. 

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“Funds from afar were not sufficient or readily available and local banks formed to help needed factories get built in their communities,” Moynihan wrote in reference to banks established along the Eastern Seaboard in the early years of America’s independence.

Banks in the nation’s capital grew along with the expansion of the federal government, while the firm’s Texas-based company helped fund the region’s resource boom and those located in the Great Plains spurred the economic growth of the Midwest and West. It also opened a bank in the Pacific Northwest.

Around 1930, A.P. Giannini’s Bank of Italy – which helped support the reconstruction of San Francisco after the great earthquake and fires of 1906 – purchased a small firm called The Bank of America, Los Angeles. After eventually consolidating, Giannini changed the name to Bank of America.

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“Companies that are now Bank of America provided funding for the Erie Canal, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the American government’s requirements for the War of 1812, World War I and World War II, as well as many other national priorities,” Moynihan wrote.

“Whether it was private citizens, governments or companies of every size, in communities across our growing country, Bank of America was there to help capitalism flourish. We were there to help foster the interdependent relationship between capitalism and democracy.” 

“For the 250 years of the American idea in action, the activities of countless individuals, families, farmers and other small businesses, large institutions, governments at every level, the opportunities provided by capitalism – a financial return on labor through wages, and on capital and investments, interest on your idle funds, facilitating investments in bonds to build infrastructure, making loans to entrepreneurs to grow their businesses – helped build our country we have today,” he explained.

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The letter also discussed how Bank of America grew its presence around the world by helping U.S. firms pursue global ambitions as well as providing financial services at the federal government’s request to facilitate access to new markets or help rebuild in the wake of conflicts.

Among the examples cited were the bank opening for business in Argentina in 1917 to support American companies engaged in the wool trade, as well as the establishment of operations in Great Britain in 1931 as the U.S. emerged as a creditor nation after World War I.

In the aftermath of World War II, Bank of America became the first bank to open for business in Japan at the request of the U.S. occupation government to provide loans to shipping companies to restart Japan’s postwar economy. 

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Bank of America opened in France in 1953 to support the post-World War II reconstruction of Europe and build on the success of the U.S. government’s post-war Marshall Plan. It also opened a Middle East headquarters in 1972 when it entered the newly formed United Arab Emirates to support U.S. companies developing the region’s resources.

Leonid Radvinsky, the billionaire owner of OnlyFans, has died at the age of 43 after a long battle with cancer, the company has confirmed.

Radvinsky, who was born in Ukraine and raised in Chicago, acquired OnlyFans in 2018 from its UK-based founders and oversaw a period of explosive growth that transformed the platform into one of the most influential businesses in the creator economy.

In a statement, OnlyFans said he had “passed away peacefully” and asked for privacy for his family.

Founded in 2016, OnlyFans allows creators to share content, ranging from fitness and cooking to adult material, directly with subscribers, who pay monthly fees or tips. The platform takes a 20 per cent commission on transactions.

Under Radvinsky’s ownership, the company’s growth accelerated dramatically, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic, when lockdowns drove a surge in both creators and subscribers. Within three years, he had joined Forbes’ list of billionaires.

By 2024, OnlyFans had generated $1.4 billion in annual revenue from more than $7 billion in transactions, according to its latest filings. The platform hosted around 4.6 million creators and attracted more than 377 million registered users globally.

Radvinsky’s net worth was estimated at $4.7 billion.

The platform’s rapid expansion was accompanied by significant regulatory and political scrutiny, particularly around its association with adult content.

UK regulator Ofcom launched an investigation in 2024 into concerns that underage users may have accessed explicit material. While the probe was later dropped, OnlyFans was fined around £1 million for providing inaccurate information about its age verification systems.

The company has also faced criticism over its handling of illegal content and accusations that some user interactions were managed by third-party operators rather than the creators themselves — claims that have led to legal challenges, though none have been successful to date.

In 2021, OnlyFans briefly announced plans to ban explicit content in response to pressure from payment providers and regulators, before reversing the decision within days following backlash from users and creators.

Beyond OnlyFans, Radvinsky invested in technology ventures through his Florida-based firm Leo.com and supported philanthropic causes, including donations to cancer research institutions such as Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

A graduate of Northwestern University with a degree in economics, he had also reportedly explored a potential sale of OnlyFans in recent years as the business matured.

Radvinsky’s tenure at OnlyFans reshaped the economics of online content creation, enabling millions of individuals to monetise their work directly and challenging traditional media and entertainment models.

While the platform remains controversial, its impact on the digital economy is widely acknowledged, particularly in how it redefined the relationship between creators and audiences.

His death marks the end of a pivotal chapter for one of the internet’s most disruptive platforms, with questions now turning to the future direction of the business he helped transform into a global phenomenon.

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Coal India Limited’s board on Monday gave an in-principle approval to divest up to 35% stake in its subsidiary South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL). The board also approved up to a 25% stake sale in another wholly-owned subsidiary Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL).

In a meeting held today, the board approved the divestment of up to 25% of equity shares held by CIL in SECL through an Offer for Sale (OFS), along with the issuance of fresh equity shares aggregating up to 10% of the post-issue paid-up equity share capital, in one or more tranches, through an Initial Public Offer (IPO) or through other permissible market routes.

The board of CIL also approved the divestment of a 25% stake in MCL via OFS in one or more tranches through an IPO or other permissible market routes in the domestic market.

The board had already approved their listing on the exchanges through separate circular resolutions of December 23, 2025.

The company said that it will communicate about its decision to the Ministry of Coal (MoC) for onward submission to DIPAM. The proposed listings will remain subject to the receipt of regulatory approvals.

SECL is amongst the highest coal producing subsidiary company of Coal India and its coal mines are spread across Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.
SECL operates 60 coal mines, of which 35 coal mines lies in Chhattisgarh State, while rest 25 coal mines are situated in Madhya Pradesh state. And of these 60 no of coal mines, 40 mines are worked by underground method of mining while rest 20 no of mines are opencast mines.Meanwhile, Mahanadi Coalfields is Miniratna company carved out of South Eastern Coalfields Limited in 1992 with its headquarters at Sambalpur.

Coal India shares today ended nearly 3% lower on the NSE at Rs 455.25.

The Nifty stock has outperformed its benchmark with returns of 12% over a 1-year period compared to approximately 4% fall in the heartbeat index.

Coal India shares are currently trading above their 50-day and 200-day simple moving averages (SMAs) of Rs 434 and Rs 399, respectively, according to Trendlyne data.

The state-owned company reported a 16% year-on-year (YoY) decline in its consolidated net profit at Rs 7,166 crore in the third quarter. The company has declared third interim dividend at Rs 5.5 per share for the financial year 2026. Revenue from operations in the December quarter fell 5% YoY to Rs 34,924 crore. This compares with Rs 36,858 crore in the last year quarter.

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