Economic Times

• India will launch its first-ever Index of Services Production (ISP) in July to accurately measure the output of the country's critical services sector. • The new index is designed to track short-term shifts in services production, complementing the existing Index of Industrial Production (IIP). • This initiative matters because it fills a significant data gap in India's economic dashboard, providing a more comprehensive pulse of the overall economy.

• SpaceX scrubbed the launch of its upgraded Starship rocket from Texas on Thursday after multiple countdown pauses caused by fuel temperature and pressure issues. • The company plans to retry the launch this coming Friday following the technical delays that occurred seconds before the planned liftoff. • Separately, Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Cuba that the U.S. remains focused on changing the island's communist system.

• The Indian stock market closed in the red on Thursday, with the Sensex ending 135 points lower and the Nifty 50 slipping below 23,700. • Markets erased morning gains due to expiry day volatility, rising bond yields, and selling by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs), impacting stocks like Bajaj Finance (-2%) and IndiGo (+3%). • In a major corporate move, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone announced the acquisition of a 100% stake in Jaypee Fertilizers & Industries for Rs 1,500 crore.

• A French consortium called AION is bidding for a portion of the European Union's new €20 billion AI datacentre fund to build a massive infrastructure project. • The proposed data centre carries an estimated cost of €10 billion, with telecommunications company Iliad already prepared to invest €4 billion. • This initiative is designed to significantly enhance Europe's artificial intelligence capabilities and reduce reliance on non-EU technology.