Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's 'war room', which includes officials who drafted Budget 2026, consists of Economic Affairs Secretary Anuradha Thakur, Revenue Secretary Arvind Srivastava, Expenditure Secretary V Vualnam and Financial Services Secretary M Nagaraju. DIPAM Secretary Arunish Chawla, Public Enterprises Secretary Moses Chalai and CEA V Anantha Nageswaran are also on the team.

The NYT called the India-EU FTA a "far-reaching agreement", headlining their article, "In Trump's shadow, India and EU expand trade ties." WSJ linked the deal to a response to Donald Trump's tariffs, while CNBC called it a "landmark" deal and CNN noted both India and EU were "stung by Trump". ABC focused on describing deal as "mother of all deals".

The US dollar fell to its lowest level in four years as the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell as much as 0.7% to its lowest level since March 2022. The greenback marked its fourth consecutive day of decline as US policy risks and a resurgent Japanese yen weighed against the currency. This comes hours after India-EU trade deal was announced.

Cloudflare shares have surged as rising demand for AI workloads boosts investor optimism, according to RBC Capital. The firm reiterated an Outperform rating with a $265 target, citing Cloudflare strength in AI inferencing and its Workers platform. Analysts also flagged growing interest from new AI projects ahead of the company's Q4 earnings on February 10.

The S&P 500 hit an all-time intraday high as investors positioned ahead of the Federal Reserve first policy meeting of 2026 and major tech earnings. The index rose 0.55%, while the Nasdaq gained 1%, led by gains in Apple and Microsoft. Despite the rally, retail sentiment on SPDR S&P 500 ETF and Invesco QQQ Trust remained bearish amid heavy chatter.

Israeli cloud security startup Upwind has entered the unicorn club after raising $250 million in a Series B round led by Bessemer Venture Partners. Founded by Amiram Shachar and his co-founders, the company focuses on runtime-first cloud security solutions. The latest funding values Upwind above $1 billion, marking a major milestone in its growth journey.

Even as India and EU reached a landmark trade deal, Indian companies aren't getting any relief from EU's carbon tax. The policy taxes certain products coming in from other countries based on carbon emissions footprint in their production process. India said it got commitment from EU to offer flexibilities if concessions on carbon tax are given to third countries.

Tesla lost about $15.4 billion in brand value in 2025, marking its third straight annual decline, according to Brand Finance. A report cited by CNBC blamed fewer new models, high EV prices and CEO Elon Musk's political involvement for the 36% drop, as shares traded slightly lower.

Amazon announced it will close its Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go stores to focus on higher-performing formats. The company plans to expand fast-delivery services and grow Whole Foods Market locations, while adjusting its physical retail footprint to prioritize profitability and scale.

Intellia Therapeutics' shares surged after the US Food and Drug Administration lifted a clinical hold on its Phase 3 MAGNITUDE-2 trial. The decision allows patient enrollment to resume for Nexiguran Ziclumeran, a gene-editing therapy targeting ATTRv-PN, following a prior safety-related pause.