IndiGo, India’s largest carrier, momentarily ascended to the pinnacle of the global aviation market on Wednesday, overtaking Delta Air Lines to become the world’s most valuable airline by market capitalisation, according to Bloomberg data.

Buoyed by a robust rally, IndiGo’s stock price surged to a record high of Rs 5,265 during intraday trading.

Around 2:30 pm, this lifted its market capitalisation to $23.24 billion, marginally surpassing Delta’s $23.18 billion.

However, the lead was short-lived, and by the close of trade, IndiGo’s valuation slipped to $23.16 billion, placing it just behind the US carrier once again.

For an airline that began commercial flights in August 2006, IndiGo’s rise to the top of the global charts marks a remarkable milestone, especially when compared with Delta’s near-century legacy, having commenced operations in 1929.

Just six years ago, Delta’s market value stood at $36.67 billion, while IndiGo was valued at $7.72 billion.

Fleet expansion and rising flight numbers fuel growth prospects

IndiGo’s impressive trajectory is underpinned by aggressive expansion plans.

As of the end of 2024, the airline operated a fleet of 437 aircraft and had secured delivery commitments for 925 more planes from Airbus, set to arrive through 2035.

Currently, IndiGo operates around 15,768 flights weekly, reflecting a 12.7% increase from the same period last year, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.

By contrast, Delta continues to run 35,144 flights weekly, a 6.6% rise over the previous year.

Indian carriers have been rapidly scaling up their fleets to meet growing demand.

Since 2023, several significant orders have been placed, including Air India’s combined 555-plane order with Airbus and Boeing, Akasa Air’s order for 150 Boeing 737 Max aircraft, and IndiGo’s own record-breaking deal for 500 A320neo family planes in June 2023.Indiag

Despite Delta’s revenues being nearly eight times higher than IndiGo’s parent company, InterGlobe Aviation, the gap in market capitalisation has narrowed significantly.

IndiGo’s strong market share and falling oil prices aiding rally, analysts see more upside

This is largely due to InterGlobe shares climbing 13% so far in 2025, while Delta’s stock has dropped over 25%.

Analysts attribute IndiGo’s strong performance to its commanding market share and favourable tailwinds, such as falling oil prices.

“IndiGo remains a structural story, which is a play on Indian macros, like the rising middle class population, and changes in transportation preferences from railways to aircrafts,” said Sabri Hazarika, senior research analyst-institutional research, Emkay Global.

Hazarika forecasts 15-16% compounded earnings growth, with a price target of Rs 6,000, indicating further upside potential.

Dharan Shah, founder of Tradonomy Research, notes that IndiGo’s market capitalisation, at about 2.5 times sales, remains reasonable compared with peers.

“Even a 50% increase in airline traffic over the next five years could rapidly elevate profitability,” he said, adding that the resolution of promoter-related share overhang has improved investor sentiment.

Shah has set a bullish price target of Rs 6,140 for the stock.

With India’s aviation market poised for sustained growth, and IndiGo’s ambitious expansion firmly underway, the carrier appears well-positioned to maintain its ascent on the global stage.

Delta’s stock pops on profit beat but airlines hurt due to tariffs

On the other hand, Delta Airlines has been struggling along with other airlines due to weaker-than-expected travel demand, ongoing economic uncertainty, and the impact of looming tariffs.

The company’s stock popped on Wednesday after it reported a stronger-than-expected profit for the first quarter, however it also warned that growth is slowing due to global trade uncertainties and softer booking trends.

The airline, which had entered 2025 with optimism, has scaled back its capacity expansion plans for the second half of the year.

Despite Delta’s reluctance to update its full-year guidance, the airline continues to forecast positive margins, targeting operating margins between 11% and 14% in the second quarter.

Lower fuel costs could provide some cushion, with US oil prices falling 6% on Wednesday to below $56 per barrel.

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Nebius stock price has been in the spotlight this year as investors assessed the growth trajectory of the artificial intelligence industry. NBIS was trading at $23.45 on Thursday, down by over 54% from its highest point this year and 73% from its highest level in 2024. So, is Nebius a good AI stock to buy this year?

Nebius is a giant AI infrastructure company

The AI industry has grown rapidly in the past few years, producing several large companies. OpenAI recently raised a record $40 billion from investors like Softbank. Elon Musk’s xAI has become a $40 billion juggernaut. Other companies like Perplexity and Figure have become some of the biggest firms in the industry. 

AI infrastructure has become a big industry as companies have continued to expand their data centers globally. A good example of its success is NVIDIA, the top GPU company in the industry that has become a $2.5 trillion company, making over $100 billion annually in revenue.

Read more: Nebius Group stock price outlook: will the NBIS crash continue?

This growth has also led to the growth of AI infrastructure companies that offer data centers and lease their solutions to firms like Microsoft, Amazon, and Google. Nebius and Coreweave are some of the best-known companies in the industry. 

Nebius, which is associated with the Russian founder of Yandex, has become one of the biggest players in the sector. It runs three key businesses, with its most important one being one where it offers large data centers in key countries. 

Nebius also runs Toloka AI, a company that partners with other companies in all stages of their development. Its solutions include data labeling, quality control, and training of large data centers. On this, it acts as the human training machine that helps developers.

Nebius also has another business called TripleTen, an education platform for teaching people about technology and other science industries.

The company believes that it has a large total addressable market of about $410 billion, which will keep growing over time. 

Business is growing from a low base

Nebius Group has a market cap of over $5.7 billion, making it a highly overvalued company now that its revenues are relatively small. The most recent results showed that its revenue for the fourth quarter was $37.9 million, up from $6.7 million. Its annual revenue surged to over $117 million, up from $20.9 million from a year earlier. 

Analysts believe that the company’s business will continue growing in the coming years. Its annual revenue is expected to come in at $553 million this year followed by $943 million next year. 

The hope is that its losses will continue narrowing in the coming years as it slows its investment on its AI infrastructure. 

However, the risk is that there is an oversupply of AI data centers, which could cap its growth. Just recently, it was reported that Microsoft was halting some of its data centers. There is also a risk from Chinese companies that have created advanced models at lower costs. 

Nebius stock price analysis

The daily chart shows that the NBIS share price has been in a strong downtrend in the past few weeks as concerns that the AI bubble was bursting rose. It moved from the year-to-date high of $50 to the current $23. This crash has cost investors billions of dollars.

The stock has moved to below the bottom of trading range of the Murrey Math Lines and the 50-day moving average. Most importantly, it is about to form a double-bottom pattern at $14.35, its lowest point in October last year. Its neckline is at $50.70. 

Therefore, there is a likelihood that the stock will surge, and possibly hit the resistance point at $50.80, which is about 120% above the current level. A drop below the support at $14.3 will invalidate the double-top pattern and drop to $10.

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Electricity demand to power AI technology and data centres by the end of this decade will require more than Japan’s electricity consumption today.

The consumption of electricity by data centres is projected to increase by over two times, reaching approximately 945 Terawatt-hour by the year 2030, according to a report released by the International Energy Agency on Thursday.

“Renewables and natural gas take the lead in meeting data centre electricity demand, but a range of sources are poised to contribute,” the Paris-based energy watchdog said. 

Sources

Renewable energy sources, supported by storage and the broader electricity grid, meet 50% of the global growth in data centre demand.

Natural gas is at the forefront of dispatchable energy sources that will play a key role in the future. Additionally, the tech sector’s advancements in nuclear and geothermal technologies will also be crucial.

Nearly half of the growth in electricity demand in the US between now and 2030 will be driven by data centers.

The country’s electricity consumption for data centres is projected to surpass the combined electricity usage for the production of all energy-intensive goods, including aluminium, steel, cement, chemicals, and others, by 2030, IEA said. 

“Uncertainties widen further after 2030, but our Base Case sees global data centre electricity consumption rising to around 1 200 TWh by 2035,” the agency added. 

Growth

The share of global electricity demand growth used by data centres by 2030 will be less than that of industrial motors, household and office air conditioning, and electric vehicles.  

Data centres will account for about one-tenth of the total growth.

“However, the significance of data centres in driving electricity demand differs by country,” the agency said. 

The IEA estimates that data centres are responsible for approximately 5% of the increase in electricity demand expected by 2030 in emerging and developing economies, which are already seeing rapid growth in electricity demand.

Advanced economies, on the other hand, have seen several decades of essentially stagnant electricity demand.

The electricity sector needs to be put on a growth footing again, according to  the IEA. This is a wake-up call for developed countries where data centres will account for over 20% of demand growth by 2030.

AI in energy sector

The substantial increase in global investment in large data centres, which has doubled since 2022, is a direct result of the rise of AI. 

These data centres, used for AI model training and operation, have significant energy demands. 

A large data centre’s electricity consumption can equal that of 100,000 households, while the largest data centre currently under construction has the potential to consume electricity as much as 2 million households.

This has huge implications for the energy sector. 

Fatih Birol, the executive director of the IEA, said: 

With the rise of AI, the energy sector is at the forefront of one of the most important technological revolutions of our time. AI is a tool, potentially an incredibly powerful one, but it is up to us – our societies, governments and companies – how we use it.

Benefits of AI in energy sector

AI has been used in the oil and gas industry to optimize exploration, production, maintenance, and safety.

AI can optimise and automate production processes, predict maintenance requirements, and detect leaks in operations, according to IEA. AI can also be used to reduce methane emissions. 

Additionally, AI can enhance resource evaluation and minimise predrilling uncertainty in exploration and development.

Meanwhile, AI can assist in stabilising electrical grids that are becoming increasingly intricate, decentralised, and digitised.

Integrating variable renewable energy generation can be improved through AI, which can enhance forecasting and reduce curtailment and emissions.

Energy security

The worldwide supply chains for data centre components are intricate. 

Gallium, for instance, a metal crucial for advanced computer chips and power electronics and substantially more efficient than conventional silicon-based designs, is almost exclusively sourced from China, which refines approximately 99% of the global supply. 

IEA’s estimations indicate that by 2030, data centres could consume over 10% of the current global gallium supply.

“AI compounds some energy security risks, but it also offers solutions in both the cyber and physical domains,” IEA said. 

The growing capabilities of AI have led to a proportional increase in its potential for both positive and negative use by various actors. 

This is evident in the threefold increase and sophistication of cyberattacks on energy utilities over the past four years, fueled by advancements in AI technology.

“At the same time, AI is becoming a critical tool to defend against them.”

AI-equipped satellites and sensors can identify incidents in critical energy infrastructure 500 times faster and at higher spatial resolutions than traditional ground-based methods in the physical domain.

Climate change concerns overstated

Data centers are among the fastest growing sources of emissions, with emissions from electricity use expected to increase from 180 million tonnes today to 300 million tonnes by 2035 in the Base Case, and up to 500 million tonnes in the Lift-Off Case, IEA said.  

While these emissions will remain below 1.5% of total energy sector emissions during this period, data center emissions are a growing concern.

“The widespread adoption of existing AI applications could lead to emissions reductions that are far larger than emissions from data centres – but also far smaller than what is needed to address climate change.”

IEA estimates that emissions reductions from the broad application of existing AI-led solutions to be equivalent to around 5% of energy-related emissions in 2035.

AI can be a tool in reducing emissions, but it is not a silver bullet and does not remove the need for proactive policy,

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European markets posted sharp gains on Thursday following a surprise move by US President Donald Trump to postpone a new round of tariffs on dozens of countries, including the European Union.

The announcement, made late on Wednesday, triggered a major rally across global equities, as investors responded to signs of easing trade tensions between two of the world’s largest economic blocs.

With the Eurozone already facing headwinds from slowing growth and supply chain issues, the temporary relief offered by the US decision sent a wave of optimism through financial markets in the region.

Indexes rally across Europe

By 9 am CET on Thursday, European stock markets were firmly in positive territory. Germany’s DAX index climbed 8.37%, while the EURO STOXX 50 rose 8.78%.

France’s CAC 40 advanced 2.27%, the FTSE 100 in London increased 5.96%, and Spain’s IBEX 35 rose 8.10%.

Italy’s FTSE MIB recorded the strongest surge among major bourses with a gain of 10.20%, while Switzerland’s SMI rose 9%.

The euro strengthened by 0.27% against the dollar to $1.09815, and the pound gained 0.38% to trade at $1.28688, reflecting broader investor sentiment in favour of European assets.

EU to expand trade ties

The three-month suspension of tariffs comes after Trump’s announcement last week of a 20% duty on US imports from the European Union.

The proposed tariffs were part of a broader push by the US administration to impose reciprocal trade measures on foreign nations.

The reversal, however, marks a significant shift in tone, particularly towards the EU.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called the pause an important step for global trade stability.

She reiterated the EU’s commitment to engaging with the US on “frictionless and mutually beneficial” trade, noting that predictable conditions are vital for global supply chains.

While the US decision did not affect existing tariffs on key sectors like steel, aluminium, and automobiles, it paused additional duties on a range of imports.

The European Union is still expected to launch countermeasures against the US levies on steel and aluminium starting next week. However, von der Leyen did not comment directly on those plans in her public statements.

Long-term concerns remain

Although the US tariff suspension provided short-term relief to markets, underlying trade tensions remain unresolved.

Trump’s move is seen as part of a broader strategy to increase pressure on China, while temporarily reducing friction with traditional allies.

The paused tariffs had targeted billions of dollars in EU exports, and their suspension is viewed by analysts as a negotiating tactic rather than a permanent policy shift.

The European Union has responded by intensifying its efforts to diversify its trade relationships.

According to von der Leyen, the bloc is engaging with trade partners that collectively account for 87% of global trade, in a bid to reduce reliance on any single country or economic bloc.

She also highlighted the need to improve integration within the EU’s single market.

In her remarks, she pointed to a renewed push by Brussels to lift internal barriers and boost economic cooperation among member states.

Global reaction continues

The US tariff delay came at a crucial time for global markets.

On Wednesday, Wall Street saw major gains, with investors interpreting the announcement as a sign that Washington may be open to negotiations with its trading partners.

That rally continued in Europe on Thursday, with renewed buying interest across sectors.

However, the long-term direction of trade relations between the US and EU remains uncertain.

The suspension is set to expire in three months, and there is no guarantee that discussions during this window will lead to a lasting agreement.

Meanwhile, the EU’s planned countermeasures and the US focus on confronting China could reignite tensions down the road.

As markets continue to respond to developments in US trade policy, the EU appears to be hedging its bets by strengthening internal cohesion and expanding global partnerships—steps that may shape the region’s resilience in future economic shocks.

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Rolls-Royce share price pared back some of the losses made earlier this month as Donald Trump’s trade war eased. After bottoming at 560p on April 7, it has soared to a high of 790p on Thuesday, a few points below the all-time high of 815p. So, will the stock keep rising and possibly hit 1,000p as some analysts estimate?

Rolls-Royce business is doing well

Rolls Royce is a top company that is involved in three key industries like civil aviation, power, and defense. 

Its civil aviation business involves manufacturing popular engines like the Trent series that is used for aircraft like Boeing 787, Airbus A380, Airbus A350 XWB, and Airbus A330. 

The company also builds engines in the pearl series that are mostly used by private jets like Gulfstream and Bombardier. Its AE series engines are turboprop, turbofan, and turboshaft that are mostly used by regional aircraft. 

Rolls-Royce makes its money in civil aviation in two main ways: engine sales and long-term service contracts. In some cases, the company is usually sells its aircraft engines at a breakeven or a loss, and then enters long-term service contracts with airlines. 

It uses the power-by-the-hour and the TotalCare options. In the power-by-the-hour approach, airlines pay the company for every hour that they operate their engines. This ensures that the maintenance fees are spread out over time. 

The company also builds engines for other industries, like the military and power solutions for data centers. Analysts believe that its data center business will continue doing well over time as demand for artificial intelligence solutions rose.

RR stock jumps after Trump pauses its tariffs

The main reason why the Rolls-Royce stock price surged is that Donald Trump paused his Liberation Day tariffs on some countries. 

Rolls-Royce is exposed to these tariffs in several ways as a global manufacturer. First, the tariffs increase its cost of doing business. For example, Trump has already imposed a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum, two metals that the company uses in its manufacturing.

Also, Trump placed a universal tariff on all goods entering the United States, where the company has substantial operations. These tariffs would make its cost of doing business more expensive and worsen the supply chain concerns it has had in the past few years.

The tariffs would also affect aircraft orders, especially from Boeing, a company that has come under pressure in over five years.

Read more: Will the surging Rolls-Royce share price 1,000p in 2025?

Most importantly, there is a likelihood that these tariffs would raise costs and affect the civil aviation by leading to lower demand. 

Still, there is a likelihood that the company’s business is strong enough to sustain its operations. For one, its recent financial results showed that it has already achieved its mid-term targets ahead of schedule, meaning that shareholders may receive higher dividends going forward.

The full-year results showed that its operating profits rose to £2.5 billion, while its margins jumped to 13.8%. Its free cash flow came in at £2.4 billion. It paid 6p per share in dividends, a figure that may keep growing.

Rolls-Royce share price analysis

RR stock chart by TradingView

The daily chart shows that the RR stock price crashed to 562p as the tariff crisis escalated. It then bounced back and moved to almost 800p after Trump paused some of these tariffs. It has remained above the 50-day and 100-day moving averages, a sign that bulls remain in control for now. 

Therefore, more upside, potential to the key resistance at 1,000p, will be confirmed if the stock rises above the key resistance level at 817p, the highest point this year. Moving above that level will validate the bullish outlook by confirming that there are more buyers left in the market.

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