Both sides are desperate for a speedy agreement, but there are clear sticking points.

Ministers say they will drive a "hard bargain" but Labour say they must be "wary" of President Trump.

Conor Burns used his position as an MP to intimidate a member of the public, standards watchdog finds.

The Irish deputy PM says time is short to reach a trade deal this year, with much still to do.

The Swiss Federal Council has announced that the free trade agreement between the European Free Trade Association and the Philippines will enter into force for Switzerland on June 1.

After repeated attempts to convince the Aurangabad police to register a case against Maharashtra Social Justice Minister Dilip Kamble for his alleged involvement in a cheating case of Rs 1.92 crore failed, a businessman approached the judicial magistrate first class court to get the work done. According to victim Vilas Dadarao Chavan, the minister cheated him of the amount on the pretext of issuing a liquor licence and permit.

According to sources, the incident came to light when Chavan approached the police to file a complaint. As the cops did not take his grievance seriously, he approached the court and registered a private case. On Tuesday, the Aurangabad court directed the police to register an FIR at CIDCO police station against Kamble and three others under sections 420, 406, 120B and 34 of IPC.

Chavan said, "A relative of Kamble had promised to help me get the licence for selling liquor in Aurangabad. The first time we met at a hotel in Pune, he introduced me to the minister and said that I would have to pay Rs 2.15 crore for transferring my Mumbai sale licence. I had given him Rs 1.92 lakh in advance." He further said, "Neither did I get the licence, nor my money back.

I had approached the Aurangabad police, but they did not take my case seriously. Then I approached the court." Aurangabad CP Chiranjeev Prasad said, "We have registered a case based on the court order. The matter is being investigated."

Catch up on all the latest Mumbai news, crime news, current affairs, and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates

Swiss Federal Councillor Johann N Schneider-Ammann will this month travel to Russia, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, and the US, with the aim of further developing Switzerland's bilateral trade relations with each country.

From January 1, 2020, sole proprietors in the Netherlands will be required to use new value-added tax identification numbers.

The Dutch Ministry of Finance has announced that around 24,000 small traders will be able to defer their wage tax declarations this year due to problems with the Government's new online portal for businesses.

Share markets in India are presently trading on a positive note. Benchmark indices advanced today tracking firm global cues.

Further, talks of an economic stimulus for small businesses battered by the coronavirus outbreak improved sentiment.

Reportedly, the government may unveil fiscal stimulus amounting to 0.3% of the country's gross domestic product, focusing on small and medium sized businesses, real estate firms and banks.

The BSE Sensex is trading up by 524 points while the NSE Nifty is trading up by 146 points.

The BSE Mid Cap index and the BSE Small Cap index are trading up by 0.9% and 0.7%, respectively.

Sectoral indices are trading mixed with stocks in the energy sector and telecom sector witnessing buying interest, while power stocks are witnessing selling pressure.

The rupee is currently trading at 75.44 against the US$.

Gold prices are currently trading down by 0.1% at Rs 46,134.

Speaking of the current stock market scenario, after a sharp rally in the past few weeks, the markets have turned volatile again.

You would be interested in knowing when the market will likely bottom out.

Vijay Bhambwani, editor of Weekly Cash Alerts, has the answer and he has recorded a video about it.

You can check the same here - This is When the Stock Market Will Bottom Out

Moving on, market participants are tracking Shree Cement share price, TCI Express share price, and SBI Cards and Payment Services share price as these companies are scheduled to announce their March quarter results (Q4FY20) later today.

You can read our recently released Q4FY20 results of other companies here: Ambuja Cement, IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, Tech Mahindra, Reliance Industries, Marico, Kansai Nerolac, NIIT Technologies, Persistent Systems, SKF India.

In news from the banking sector, public sector banks (PSBs) sanctioned loans worth Rs 5.66 lakh crore for the March-April period to 41.81 lakh accounts, according to the finance ministry.

The borrowers represented the micro small and medium sized enterprises (MSMEs), retail, agriculture and corporate sectors.

Reportedly, PSB loans amounting to Rs 265 billion have been sanctioned in 2.37 lakh cases for MSMEs.

This is part of the PSB initiative to prioritise pre-approved emergency credit lines and enhanced working capital requirements to the sector.

Meanwhile, PSBs sanctioned loans worth Rs 773.8 billion to non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and housing finance companies (HFCs) between March 1 and May 4.

Including the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) targeted long term repo operations (TLTRO) window, PSBs extended Rs 1.08 lakh crore of financing to ensure business stability and continuity.

The finance ministry said that the three-month loan moratorium facility announced by the RBI has been availed by 3.2 crore PSB accounts.

On Thursday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the Indian economy is poised to recover from the recent crisis brought upon by the coronavirus pandemic with PSB sanctioning loans worth Rs 5.66 lakh crore in just two months.

Speaking of the banking sector, the low access to credit for micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) tells us there is a huge opportunity for lenders.

This is evident from the chart below:

India's Huge Lending Opportunity

Of the 60 million MSMEs in India, only 11% had access to credit from organised lenders. Most of them are self-financed or get credit from unorganised sources.

Here's what Tanushree Banerjee wrote about this in one of the editions of The 5 Minute WrapUp...

• Self-financing limits the growth of these MSMEs. On the other hand, high interest rates from unorganised sources makes it difficult for them to earn profits.
  
  The Modi government is looking at various ways to correct this problem. Mudra loans, online loans facilities are being made available to MSMEs.
  
  Slowly but surely, lenders are sensing the huge opportunity that lies ahead for this sector.
  
  Banks and other financial firms with prudent lending practices and strong distribution networks will benefit from this megatrend.

Tanushree is counting on 7 top stocks from the Indian stock market that will benefit from this megatrend.

As per her, now is the right time to buy these stocks to profit from the Rebirth of India. You can read about them here.

Moving on to news from the FMCG sector, shares of Hindustan Unilever (HUL) rose 4% today after institutional investors bought stake in the company via open market on Thursday.

The NSE bulk deal data showed that foreign portfolio investor Societe Generale, a French multinational investment bank and financial services company, bought 129 million shares of HUL at an average price of Rs 1,902.

UK-based Glaxo-SmithKline (GSK) offloaded its stake in HUL via block deals, yesterday.

According to the term sheet, over 133 million shares were offered in the range of Rs 1,850-1,950 to investors through a special block window.

The deal is valued roughly between Rs 246 billion to Rs 259 billion.

Note that last week, HUL reported a 7% decline in volumes in Q4FY20. The company's profit before tax fell 10.6% to Rs 19.9 billion, while net profit declined 1.2% year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 15.2 billion.

HUL share price is presently trading up by 3%.

To know more about the company, you can HUL's latest result analysis on our website.

And to know what's moving the Indian stock markets today, check out the most recent share market updates here.

44 African countries have signed a landmark free trade pact to simplify tax and non-tax rules for trading between their borders.

The European Free Trade Association states (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland), and the South African Customs Union have begun negotiations to review their existing free trade agreement.

Switzerland's Government has recently decided on a number of trade matters and reviewed its plans for changes to how it administers vehicle taxes.

The European Free Trade Association states – Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Iceland – and Indonesia have signed a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), which will slash tariffs on a majority of industrial goods.

Sri Lanka signed its first ever comprehensive free trade agreement on January 23, with Singapore.

The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore has released new transfer pricing guidance on determining the economic value of taxpayers' commodity marketing and trading activities in Singapore.

The European Free Trade Association, which comprises Liechtenstein, Iceland, Switzerland, and Norway, intends to take forward free trade negotiations with India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Ecuador this year.

Canada and representatives from the ASEAN member states have agreed to launch exploratory discussions to determine the potential for a free trade agreement.

Hong Kong has announced the conclusion of free trade agreement negotiations with the Association of South East Asian Nations.

Mexico has completed its domestic ratification procedures in respect of the new US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which will replace the North American Free Trade Agreement, with the US and Canada.

The European Free Trade Association (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland) and the Mercosur group of countries (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay) concluded in substance a broad-based free trade agreement at the tenth round of negotiations from August 20 to 23, 2019.

The Belgian tax agency has issued a reminder to value-added tax-registered persons of their obligations to file VAT returns and pay VAT during the holiday season.

China intends to implement numerous changes to its trade tariffs from January 1, 2018, to ensure domestic businesses have access to inputs and equipment and to implement changes in prior international agreements.

In a new report, the OECD has drawn attention to criminal activity in free trade zones, which typically offer tax privileges and lighter regulation, highlighting that they may be unintentionally fostering growth in counterfeit goods.

In a new report, the OECD has drawn attention to criminal activity in free trade zones, which typically offer tax privileges and lighter regulation, highlighting that they may be unintentionally fostering growth in counterfeit goods.

Hong Kong has signed a new free trade agreement with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which is expected to become effective from January 2019.

The EU's new free trade agreement with Japan, finalized by negotiators from both sides on December 8, 2017, has been described as the European bloc's most comprehensive yet.

The EU and Japan have signed an Economic Partnership Agreement that will remove the majority of the EUR1bn (USD1.2bn) of duties paid annually by EU companies exporting to Japan.

Canada, Mexico, and the US have signed an agreement on amendments to their proposed new trade pact.

On January 16, 2020, the US Senate voted to approve the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which will replace the existing North American Free Trade Agreement.

HM Revenue and Customs has written to VAT-registered businesses that trade with the EU, advising them on how to prepare for changes to customs, excise, and VAT in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

The European Commission has taken the first step toward negotiating a new relationship with the UK by issuing a recommendation to the European Council that the talks should commence.

In the Omo-Turkana and Zambezi basins in Africa, complex relationships emerge from the balances struck among hydropower generation, irrigated agriculture, water quality and environmental flows.

Key Indian equity market indices opened flat on Friday following global cues.