Good morning and a happy Monday to you! This is the daily morning update from NDTV Profit and I’m Alex Mathew. Stay tuned to get up to speed with everything you need to know to start the week ahead of the curve.

Let’s kick things off with what I’ll probably start calling Trump watch. Statements made by the new US President have been having a bearing on global markets since he took charge at the start of last week. Perhaps the most noticeable impact is the lack on any meaningful action on tariffs against trading partners, including China.

In fact, the dollar dropped by the most in over a year last week – partly because President Donald Trump suggested a potentially softer stance on tariffs against China. He also called for interest rates to fall. As of this morning, the dollar index, which is a measure of the greenback’s strength against a basket of currencies, was trading at 107.6.

In the latest on Trump watch, Trump said on Sunday that he would impose sweeping retaliatory measures on Colombia, including tariffs and sanctions, after it turned away two U.S. military aircraft with migrants being deported as part of the new U.S. administration’s immigration crackdown.

Colombia, the third largest US trading partner in Latin America, swiftly responded, threatening a 50% tariff on US goods. The country’s leftist president, Gustavo Petro, later posted on X that he directed his trade minister to increase tariffs on US imports by 25%.

In news this morning, Bloomberg reported, quoting Trump, that the US would enact emergency 25% tariffs on goods from Colombia. It would also revoke visas of Colombian government officials and impose banking and financial sanctions on the country.

One last update you should track – news post market hours on Friday was that China’s government failed to meet its spending target for last year, as the housing market slump left local governments strapped for cash and unable to meet funding commitments. Total augmented spending was 38.6 trillion yuan ($5.3 trillion) for 2024, which was 5% less than what was budgeted in March.

In major global events to track in the week ahead, the big one will be the rate decision by the Federal Open Market Committee. That’s probably going to dictate the course of global equity markets. As of this morning, only two of the three early risers in the Asia Pacific region were trading and they were both flat. Chinese markets will be shut for a bulk of the week for New Year celebrations.

In news back home, earnings takes centre stage. ICICI Bank will dominate conversations this morning and will likely rise in trade on the back of a solid financial result in the third quarter.

A rise in net interest income and stable asset quality helped the bank report a nearly 15% rise in profit after tax at Rs 11,792 crore, exceeding analysts’ expectations. Net interest income rose 9% and the core margin fell to 4.25% from 4.27% in the previous quarter.

Also in the banking space, IDFC First Bank reported a 53% fall in profit on account of a sharp rise in provisions. The weakness in asset quality emanating from the microfinance space continued during the quarter. Provisions and contingencies for the third quarter doubled to Rs 1,338 crore from the year-ago period. It’s been a painful quarter for the bank, similar to what other players in the space have experienced. In fact, over the weekend CreditAccess Grameen – a microfinance lender – reported a sharp increase in non-performing assets. The gross bad loans have risen to 3.99% from 2.44% in the previous quarter.

In other earnings that you should pay attention to – IndiGo parent InterGlobe Aviation has posted a fall in its bottom line for the quarter ended December, impacted by rupee depreciation and a higher number of grounded planes, despite strong demand.

Net profit of the operator of India’s largest airline fell 18.3% to Rs 2,448.8 crore over the previous year, according to an exchange filing on Friday. This was primarily due to the carrier incurring a foreign exchange loss of Rs 1,456.4 crore between October and December.

And finally, Godrej Consumer Products Ltd.’s third-quarter profit fell 14.2% on a yearly basis, missing analysts’ estimates. The firm’s revenue rose 3% to Rs 3,768 crore, as against Rs 3,660 crore in the year-ago period. Margins contracted to 20.1% versus 23%.

Volumes for the second half this fiscal are projected to remain lower than the previous half levels, with recovery anticipated only after two quarters. The company also foresees one to two additional rounds of price hikes in the coming months, with pricing growth in Q4 expected to outpace Q3.

JSW Steel has posted a decline of 1.4% in revenue and a 70.3% drop in net profit at 717 crore. This was on account of a contraction in operating profit margins to 13.5% from 17.1%. This was largely anticipated, though, and in fact the company has exceeded expectations.

In trade today, you should watch out for Coal India and Tata Steel results from amongst the Nifty 50 companies. And there are several more from the broader markets too.

Outside of earnings, KEC International stands out on the back of order wins. The company bagged new transmission and distribution orders worth Rs 1,445 crore.

There’s action in the primary market to tell you about. There are two new issues, four closing and six listing.

Among the new public issues, the maiden offering of Dr Agarwal’s Healthcare will be the only one in the mainboard segment. The IPO will open at a price band of Rs 382 to 402 per share with a face value of Rs 1 each. The eyecare services provider will open for bidding on Jan. 29 and close on Jan. 31. The company plans to raise Rs 3,027.26 crore through the offering.

. Read more on Markets by NDTV Profit.Donald Trump kept making headlines with his tariffs, although no action against China has come to pass yet.  Read MoreMarkets, Business 

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