genie garage door opener By Wealth Trust Securities The Secondary Bond market kickstarted the week on a positive note following news that Fitch Ratings had issued credit rating upgrades on Sri Lanka’s Foreign Currency and Local Currency Debt Issuances. The Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) was raised to ‘CCC+’ from ‘RD’ (Restricted Default), while the Local-Currency IDR was promoted to ‘CCC+’ from ‘CCC-’. This coincided with the stock market continuing to rally and hitting new all-time highs. Initially, yields were seen declining sharply on the back of aggressive buying interest. Trading activity and transaction volumes were seen at healthy levels earlier in the day but subsequently moderated to a virtual standstill during the latter part of the day. As activity slowed down, the momentum shifted, and yields were seen moving back up as profit taking pressure led to a reversal. As a result, two-way quotes actually closed the day broadly steady. The 15.09.27 maturity initially hit an intraday low of 9.68% subsequent to hitting an intraday high of 9.75%. The bulk of the trading was centred on 2028 durations. The 15.02.28 and 15.03.28 maturities were initially seen hitting intraday lows of 10.00% prior to trading back up to intraday highs of 10.10%. The other 2028 tenors followed a similar V-shaped trading pattern. The 01.05.28 and 01.07.28 maturities were seen hitting intraday lows of 10.07% and 10.20% prior to moving back up to trade at intraday highs of 10.30% each respectively. The 15.09.29 maturity traded up from an intraday low of 10.65% to a high of 10.70%. The 15.05.30 maturity was seen changing hands at the rates of 11.00%-11.05%. The 01.07.32 maturity was seen trading within the narrow band of 11.47%-11.48%. Furthermore, it was reported yesterday that Moody’s had also upgraded Sri Lanka’s long-term foreign currency issuer rating to Caa1 from Ca with a stable outlook. This comes ahead of the Treasury bill auction due today, which will have a total amount of Rs. 120.00 billion on offer, a decrease of Rs. 65.00 billion over the previous week. This will consist of Rs. 30.00 billion on the 91-day maturity and Rs. 40.00 billion on the 182-day and Rs. 50.00 billion on the 364-day maturity. For reference, at the weekly Treasury Bill auction conducted last Wednesday (18 December), weighted average rates declined across all three maturities for the second consecutive week. The 91-day rate fell by 3 basis points to 8.66%, the 182-day by 7 basis points to 8.81%, and the 364-day by 1 basis point to 9.02%. Total bids exceeded the offered amount by 2.22 times, raising Rs. 185 billion in the 1st phase. An additional Rs. 18.50 billion (being the maximum offered) was raised in the 2nd phase, which saw strong oversubscription of Rs. 111.4 billion. On the inflation front, the National Consumer Price Index - NCPI (Base: 2021=100) or National inflation for the month of November 2024 was recorded at -1.70% on its point to point as against -0.70% recorded in October 2024, while the annual average inflation was recorded at 2.20%. This marked the third consecutive month that the NCPI has recorded deflation. The total secondary market Treasury bond/bill transacted volume for 20 December was Rs. 8.80 billion. In money markets, the weighted average rates on overnight call money and Repo stood at 8.00% and 8.09% respectively yesterday. The net liquidity surplus stood at Rs. 197.51 billion yesterday. Rs 1.29 billion was withdrawn from Central Bank’s SLFR (Standing Lending Facility Rate) of 8.50%, while an amount of Rs. 198.80 billion was deposited at Central Bank’s SDFR (Standard Deposit Facility Rate) of 7.50%. In the Forex market, the USD/LKR rate on spot contracts closed the day depreciating Rs.296.25/296.75, subsequent to trading at a low of 297.00 and a high of 294.00, against its previous day’s closing level of Rs. 293.50/294.00. The total USD/LKR traded volume for 20 December was $ 89.00 million. (References: Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Bloomberg E-Bond trading platform, Money broking companies)NEW YORK – President-elect Donald Trump’s recent dinner with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his visit to Paris for the reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral were not just exercises in policy and diplomacy. They were also prime trolling opportunities for Trump. Recommended Videos Throughout his first term in the White House and during his campaign to return, Trump has spun out countless provocative, antagonizing and mocking statements. There were his belittling nicknames for political opponents, his impressions of other political figures and the plentiful memes he shared on social media. Now that's he's preparing to return to the Oval Office, Trump is back at it, and his trolling is attracting more attention — and eyerolls. On Sunday, Trump turned a photo of himself seated near a smiling first lady Jill Biden at the Notre Dame ceremony into a social media promo for his new perfume and cologne line, with the tag line, “A fragrance your enemies can’t resist!” The first lady’s office declined to comment. When Trudeau hastily flew to Florida to meet with Trump last month over the president-elect's threat to impose a 25% tax on all Canadian products entering the U.S., the Republican tossed out the idea that Canada become the 51st U.S. state. The Canadians passed off the comment as a joke, but Trump has continued to play up the dig, including in a post Tuesday morning on his social media network referring to the prime minister as “Governor Justin Trudeau of the Great State of Canada.” After decades as an entertainer and tabloid fixture, Trump has a flair for the provocative that is aimed at attracting attention and, in his most recent incarnation as a politician, mobilizing fans. He has long relished poking at his opponents, both to demean and minimize them and to delight supporters who share his irreverent comments and posts widely online and cheer for them in person. Trump, to the joy of his fans, first publicly needled Canada on his social media network a week ago when he posted an AI-generated image that showed him standing on a mountain with a Canadian flag next to him and the caption “Oh Canada!” After his latest post, Canadian Immigration Minister Marc Miller said Tuesday: “It sounds like we’re living in a episode of South Park." Trudeau said earlier this week that when it comes to Trump, “his approach will often be to challenge people, to destabilize a negotiating partner, to offer uncertainty and even sometimes a bit of chaos into the well established hallways of democracies and institutions and one of the most important things for us to do is not to freak out, not to panic.” Even Thanksgiving dinner isn't a trolling-free zone for Trump's adversaries. On Thanksgiving Day, Trump posted a movie clip from “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” with President Joe Biden and other Democrats’ faces superimposed on the characters in a spoof of the turkey-carving scene. The video shows Trump appearing to explode out of the turkey in a swirl of purple sparks, with the former president stiffly dancing to one of his favorite songs, Village People’s “Y.M.C.A." In his most recent presidential campaign, Trump mocked Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, refusing to call his GOP primary opponent by his real name and instead dubbing him “Ron DeSanctimonious.” He added, for good measure, in a post on his Truth Social network: “I will never call Ron DeSanctimonious ‘Meatball’ Ron, as the Fake News is insisting I will.” As he campaigned against Biden, Trump taunted him in online posts and with comments and impressions at his rallies, deriding the president over his intellect, his walk, his golf game and even his beach body. After Vice President Kamala Harris took over Biden's spot as the Democratic nominee, Trump repeatedly suggested she never worked at McDonalds while in college. Trump, true to form, turned his mocking into a spectacle by appearing at a Pennsylvania McDonalds in October, when he manned the fries station and held an impromptu news conference from the restaurant drive-thru. Trump’s team thinks people should get a sense of humor. “President Trump is a master at messaging and he’s always relatable to the average person, whereas many media members take themselves too seriously and have no concept of anything else other than suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome,” said Steven Cheung, Trump’s communications director. “President Trump will Make America Great Again and we are getting back to a sense of optimism after a tumultuous four years.” Though both the Biden and Harris campaigns created and shared memes and launched other stunts to respond to Trump's taunts, so far America’s neighbors to the north are not taking the bait. “I don’t think we should necessarily look on Truth Social for public policy,” Miller said. Gerald Butts, a former top adviser to Trudeau and a close friend, said Trump brought up the 51st state line to Trudeau repeatedly during Trump’s first term in office. “Oh God,” Butts said Tuesday, “At least a half dozen times.” “This is who he is and what he does. He’s trying to destabilize everybody and make people anxious,” Butts said. “He’s trying to get people on the defensive and anxious and therefore willing to do things they wouldn’t otherwise entertain if they had their wits about them. I don’t know why anybody is surprised by it.” ___ Gillies reported from Toronto. Associated Press writer Darlene Superville contributed to this report.

The former New York mayor and lawyer to Donald Trump, , erupted in court on Tuesday, telling a judge: “I can’t pay my bills!” Sketches by court room artists, who for the media to use when cameras are not allowed in court, such as federal courts, showed a furious Giuliani, 80, pointing at the judge in his case, Lewis Liman. The hearing in federal court in Manhattan concerned a near-$150m judgment won by Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, two Georgia elections workers while advancing Trump’s lie that in 2020 cost him victory . Liman said Giuliani had not been complying with . Giuliani said on Tuesday: “The implications you are making against me are wrong. I have no car, no credit card, no cash, everything I have is tied up, they have put stop orders on my business accounts, and I can’t pay my bills!” Giuliani’s fall has been spectacular. After making his name as a hard-charging prosecutor who took on organized crime, he was mayor for two terms, in office on and widely praised for his leadership after the terrorist attacks on the US. His 2008 presidential run flopped but Giuliani enjoyed a successful consulting and speaking career before allying himself with Trump when the property magnate entered Republican politics in 2015. Giuliani missed out on a cabinet appointment but became Trump’s personal attorney – work that fueled Trump’s , in 2019 for blackmailing Ukraine for political dirt. Giuliani then became a prime driver of Trump’s failed attempt to overturn the 2020 election – work which produced criminal charges, to which he , the huge defamation judgment, and disbarments in and . In New York on Tuesday, Giuliani’s lawyer told the judge his client had turned over assets including a Mercedes Benz sports car once owned by the film star Lauren Bacall. An attorney for Freeman and Moss said Giuliani had turned over the car but not the title to it. Attorneys for the two women have also said they have to Giuliani’s $5m Upper East Side apartment in Manhattan, but have not secured “the keys, stock, or proprietary lease”. In court, the judge told Giuliani’s lawyer: “A car without a title is meaningless ... your client is a competent person. He was the US attorney in the district. The notion that he can’t apply for a title certificate –” Giuliani cut him off, saying: “I did apply for it! What am I supposed to do, make it up myself? Your implication that I have not been diligent about it is totally incorrect.” He then launched his outburst about financial problems. Giuliani’s lawyer asked Liman to extend deadlines, given he had only just started on the case after previous attorneys withdrew. Liman denied the request, saying: “You can’t restart the clock by firing one counsel and hiring another. He has already received multiple extensions, and missed multiple deadlines.” Trial is set for 16 January regarding whether Giuliani must also give Moss and Freeman his Florida home and four New York Yankees World Series commemoration rings. On Tuesday, Giuliani’s lawyer asked if the trial could be pushed back, so his client could attend inaugural events for Trump, who will be sworn in as president in Washington DC on 20 January. Liman said no. Outside court, Giuliani told reporters Liman was “going to rule against me. If you were sitting in the courtroom and couldn’t figure it out, you’re stupid.” He also said the judge’s “background is serious leftwing Democrat ... about as leftwing as you get” – even while acknowledging Liman was by Trump. Giuliani said he did not regret defaming Freeman and Moss. “I regret the persecution I have been put through,” he said.Surveillance tech advances by Biden could aid in Trump's promised crackdown on immigration

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Investors held their breath on Tuesday as U.S. stock markets saw little movement, with all eyes turned to upcoming inflation data that could guide the Federal Reserve’s future interest rate strategies. The S&P 500, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and the Nasdaq Composite remained largely unchanged despite reaching record highs earlier in the day. In corporate news, Oracle Corporation faced a significant setback. After releasing a less-than-stellar fiscal Q2 report, the company’s shares fell by 8%, though it’s important to note that Oracle’s stock has surged 66% since the start of the year. Alphabet Inc. made headlines with its new quantum computing chip, propelling the company to a more than 5% increase in stock value. This advancement highlights Alphabet’s leading position in cutting-edge computing technology. Nvidia Corporation, however, struggled as its stocks fell over 3% over two days following news of a Chinese antitrust investigation into the chip maker. Meanwhile, Meta Platforms Inc. experienced a slight rebound, with shares rising over 1% after previous declines. Anticipation builds for Wednesday, as investors focus on the release of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) report. Experts forecast a 0.3% increase for November and a 2.7% rise year-over-year. These figures could provide crucial insights into the Federal Reserve’s approach to interest rates in the coming year. This story originated from market updates and analyses. Why Tech Giants are Reshaping the Future of Quantum Computing As investors await pivotal economic data, notably the Consumer Price Index (CPI) report, focusing on the recent technological and market innovations reveals compelling insights. Notably, Alphabet Inc.’s progression into quantum computing heralds transformative potential across industries. Here, we explore broader impacts and strategic decisions influencing these technological advancements. The Quantum Leap: A Game-Changer for Alphabet Inc. Alphabet Inc.’s recent release of a cutting-edge quantum computing chip not only boosted its stock by over 5%, illustrating strong market confidence, but also spearheads a paradigm shift in computing capabilities. Quantum computing promises to solve complex problems beyond the reach of classical computers, with potential applications in cryptography, medicine, financial modeling, and artificial intelligence. Strategic Implications for Investors Alphabet’s venture into quantum technology underscores a strategic pivot towards high-risk, high-reward technologies. Investors should consider diversification into firms that are pioneering this domain, which, despite its speculative nature, holds transformative potential. For more on Alphabet’s broader technological strategies, visit Alphabet Inc. . Nvidia Corporation Battles Regulatory Challenges In contrast, Nvidia faces obstacles, with a stock decrease of over 3% attributed to a Chinese antitrust probe. This highlights the geopolitical tensions affecting global technology markets, reminding investors of the risks associated with manufacturing and sales in sensitive international environments. How Oracle Navigates Market Volatility Oracle’s recent 8% dip post-earnings report might seem stark; however, the corporation’s 66% year-to-date stock surge should be recognized as a longer-term trend of robust growth. Analysts suggest that investors maintain confidence in Oracle’s cloud computing investments, which remain fundamental to its sustained expansion. The Consumer Price Index and its Implications Ahead of the anticipated CPI report release, predicted to show a 0.3% monthly increase and a 2.7% year-over-year rise, investors are keenly observing these metrics. Such data could signal shifts in the Federal Reserve’s policies, impacting interest rates and market liquidity. The CPI report is pivotal for making informed economic forecasts and adjustments in investment strategies. Market Insights and Future Trends Understanding each of these developments can prime investors for market fluctuations and open discussions on innovation trajectories, regulatory landscapes, and economic strategies. In conclusion, keeping abreast with these technology sector shifts can provide strategic advantage, as firms like Alphabet take substantial strides into future technologies such as quantum computing. Investors ought to stay informed on regulatory changes and macroeconomic indicators to adeptly navigate this evolving landscape.