Blocked today, unblocked tomorrow – that’s what’s happening to Donald Trump’s tit-for-tat tariff.
Here are this week’s top business headlines: A US appeals court temporarily reinstated Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs on Thursday. This came a day after a US trade court blocked most of those tariffs, ruling that Trump had overstepped his emergency powers in imposing them. The appeals court has now stayed that ruling until it hears the case. If the Trump administration loses the appeal, it is expected to escalate the matter to the US Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, according to a Wall Street Journal report, the Trump administration is also considering other options, working on a two-pronged approach to impose higher tariffs if it loses the legal battle. The first could be an interim measure, under which the US would use a rarely invoked section of the Trade Act of 1974 to levy a 15 per cent tariff for 150 days. The second involves a detailed notification and consultation process and is expected to have stronger legal standing.
Staying with US headlines — the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, has exited his role at DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency, under the Trump administration. While his departure was expected, it comes at a time when Musk has publicly criticised Trump for the first time since joining his team. It also coincides with calls from Tesla investors for Musk to spend more time focusing on the struggling electric vehicle maker.
Also read/watch - BYD shares fall despite EV market dominance
Staying with macros. The Reserve Bank of India’s balance sheet expanded to 76.25 lakh crore rupees in the year 2024-25, a surge of 8.2 per cent compared with 70.48 lakh crore rupees as of 31 March 2024. During the last fiscal year, the RBI’s income grew by almost 23 per cent, while expenditure rose around 8 per cent. The increase in the RBI’s assets was led by a 52 per cent jump in its gold investments.
In regulatory news, market regulator SEBI has barred actor Arshad Warsi, his wife, his brother, and others from the stock market for one year. SEBI has also imposed a monetary penalty of 5 lakh rupees each on these individuals and ordered the disgorgement of 1.05 crore rupees collectively. The action comes in an alleged pump-and-dump case, where they were accused of artificially inflating the share price of Sadhna Broadcast Limited before dumping it. In the startup world, OYO founder Ritesh Agarwal has invited name suggestions for its parent firm, Oravel Stays. In a social media post, Agarwal said the company was building something bigger than its existing products and needed a new name. He also mentioned renaming the corporate brand behind it all, inviting suggestions from the community. This move comes as the global travel tech platform prepares for its stock market debut.
A quick look at this week’s market action — it was a choppy week on Dalal Street, with Indian markets closing in the red. Both the Sensex and the Nifty gave up some of their recent gains, retreating from the multi-month highs they had reached over the past couple of weeks. That’s all we have on the Hook Business News Wrap this week. Log on to Hook.Online for our special report on why investors are worried about Chinese EV giant BYD.
