Business
Top stocks to buy: Stock recommendations for the week starting January 19, 2026 – check list – The Times of India
Stock market recommendations: According to Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd, the top stock picks for the week (starting January 19, 2026) are 360 One, and Canara HSBC Life. Let’s take a look:
360 One360 One WAM is a structural growth story given tailwinds from India’s expanding wealth pool, new team onboarding, and synergies from recent acquisitions which underpin long-term growth visibility. It delivered a strong 3QFY26, driven by robust inflows and operating leverage. Operating revenue grew 33% YoY, led by a sharp 45% YoY rise in ARR income, while disciplined cost control reduced the cost-to-income ratio by 320bp YoY to 49.6%, supporting healthy profit growth. PAT grew 20% YoY despite a sharp decline in other income. Growth was fueled by strong net ARR inflows of ₹147b, with record AMC inflows and sustained momentum in wealth management driven by wallet share gains and carry income-led retention improvement. Management remains confident of further CI ratio improvement toward 45–46% as ET Money and HNI businesses move toward breakeven. Management guides for 22–24% AUM growth, translating into 21%/22% revenue/PAT CAGR over FY25-28.Canara HSBC LifeCanara HSBC Life Insurance represents a compelling banca-led compounding story, underpinned by strong distribution moats and significant headroom for efficiency-driven growth. The insurer has consistently outperformed the industry over the past decade by leveraging its deep bancassurance partnerships, led by Canara Bank and complemented by HSBC, which together provide access to a large, sticky, and increasingly segmented customer base.With penetration among Canara Bank customers still very low and branch productivity materially below private-bank peers, incremental gains from better analytics, digital enablement, and branch activation offer a long runway for growth at low acquisition cost. HSBC adds a high-quality layer through affluent, NRI, salary, and corporate customers, supporting superior persistency and value accretion. Alongside this, gradual diversification into agency and other channels improves reach and reduces concentration risk without materially diluting long-term economics. A favorable shift in product mix toward non-par and protection, improving operating efficiency, and rising scale are driving steady expansion in value creation metrics, positioning Canara HSBC Life as a structurally improving, capital-efficient life insurer with sustained growth visibility and strong return potential over the medium term.(Disclaimer: Recommendations and views on the stock market, other asset classes or personal finance management tips given by experts are their own. These opinions do not represent the views of The Times of India)
Business
Anthropic officially designated a supply chain risk by Pentagon
The supply chain risk designation of the artificial intelligence firm is a first for a US company.
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Business
FDA official calls UniQure’s gene therapy a ‘failed’ treatment for Huntington’s disease
Thomas Fuller | SOPA Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images
UniQure needs to run another study to prove that its gene therapy “actually helps people with Huntington’s disease,” a senior U.S. Food and Drug Administration official said on a call with reporters Thursday.
The official, who requested anonymity before discussing sensitive information, confirmed the agency has asked the company to run a placebo controlled trial of its treatment, which is administered directly into the brain. UniQure has said that type of study isn’t ethical because it would require putting people under general anesthesia for hours, a characterization the official disputed.
“So what is really going on? UniQure is the latest company to make a failed therapy for Huntington’s patients,” the official said. “They likely acknowledge or understand at some deep level that their trial failed years ago, and instead of doing the right thing and running the correct clinical study, UniQure is performing a distorted or manipulated comparison in the mind of FDA.”
The comments mark the latest development in a messy public spat between UniQure and the FDA, and as the agency comes under fire for a number of recent drug approval application rejections, including some where companies have accused it of going back on previous guidance. FDA Commissioner Marty Makary in an interview with CNBC’s Becky Quick last week seemingly criticized UniQure’s gene therapy for Huntington’s disease. Makary didn’t name UniQure but described its treatment.
UniQure then accused the FDA of reversing its stance that the company’s clinical trial data would be sufficient to seek approval. UniQure’s study used an outside database to measure how patients with Huntington’s disease might decline without treatment, known as an external control. UniQure has said it wouldn’t be feasible to run a true randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled study, considered the gold standard, because it wouldn’t be ethical to make people undergo a sham hours-long brain surgery.
The FDA official said the agency “never agreed to accept this distorted comparison” and the FDA “never makes such assurances.” Instead, the “FDA will always say, ‘Well, we have to see the data when we get it.'”
UniQure didn’t immediately comment.
The company’s stock rose more than 10% on Thursday and has fallen 58% this year as of Thursday afternoon.
Business
US mortgage rates rise to 6% after three-week slide as oil-driven bond yields climb – The Times of India
The average long-term US mortgage rate edged higher this week, ending a three-week decline as bond yields rose amid oil-price pressures linked to the war with Iran.The benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage rate increased to 6% from 5.98% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said on Thursday. A year ago, the average rate stood at 6.63%, AP reported.The modest uptick breaks a three-week slide in borrowing costs, with mortgage rates having hovered close to the 6% mark for most of this year. Last week’s average had marked the first time the rate dipped below 6% since September 2022, reaching its lowest level in nearly three and a half years.Mortgage rates are influenced by several factors, including the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate policy, investor expectations about inflation and economic growth, and movements in the bond market.They typically track the direction of the 10-year US Treasury yield, which lenders use as a benchmark for pricing home loans.The 10-year Treasury yield rose to 4.14% at midday Thursday, up from around 4% a week earlier.Treasury yields have moved higher in recent days as rising oil prices added fresh inflation concerns, potentially complicating the Federal Reserve’s plans to cut interest rates.
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