U.S. President Donald Trump said imported generic drugs will face a tiered tariff schedule starting Aug. 1, 2026, beginning with a two-year zero-rate period. He added the duty would rise to 100% in the third year and 200% from the fourth year onward to encourage manufacturers to shift generic drug production to the United States. The move directly affects Indian exporters such as Aurobindo Pharma and Sun Pharma, where U.S. shipments make up more than 30%–46% of FY26 revenue.

India has approved financial support of 1.9 trillion rupees ($19.7 billion) to boost domestic chip and smartphone production and is screening more than 100 key imported products for local manufacturing, including electronics, chemicals and fertilizers. A basket of 15 import-substitution-linked stocks has outperformed the NIFTY5 index by more than 22 percentage points. The effort is an upgrade to the “Make in India” policy aimed at easing a $333 billion trade deficit and reducing supply-chain vulnerabilities.

Cracker Barrel said it sold the Maple Street Biscuit Company brand and assets tied to 35 locations and will close the remaining 16 restaurants. Separately, it completed a sale-leaseback transaction covering 26 company-owned locations, generating roughly $77 million in net proceeds. The company said it plans to use the cash to pay down debt and expects the moves to lift adjusted EBITDA starting in fiscal 2027. Maple Street contributed less than 2% of Cracker Barrel’s annual revenue, and the divestiture is aimed at sharpening focus on the core brand and improving profitability.

Nigeria’s central bank kept its Monetary Policy Rate at 26.5% and maintained the Cash Reserve Ratio at 45%, saying the naira should be determined by market forces rather than propped up. The IMF has assessed the naira as still about 25.6% undervalued versus economic fundamentals. Headline inflation edged down to 15.91% in June, while food inflation rose to 17.52%. The central bank flagged escalating conflict in the Middle East as the biggest external risk, warning it could lift energy prices and feed into domestic inflation.

Asian equities extended gains for a second session, with the MSCI Asia Pacific Index up 0.8% and South Korea’s Kospi jumping more than 5%. The move followed the Nasdaq 100’s best session in three weeks as a key semiconductor gauge surged 5.2%, helping offset worries tied to firmer oil prices. Brent rose 0.6% to $91.52 a barrel and gold traded above $4,080 an ounce.

Lynas Rare Earths reported Q4 FY 2024 gross sales revenue of $288.9 million, up 69.7% year on year, marking its highest quarterly revenue since Q4 FY 2022. The company said its average selling price hit a record $98.2 per kilogram, while NdPr output fell 11% to 1,857 tonnes as it works through bottlenecks at the Kalgoorlie facility. After the update, Lynas shares fell 5.8% on the day, underperforming the ASX 200, which was up 0.1% at the same time.

The UK Chancellor has approved live use of the Quant-led GBTD system. HBAR and Lloyds have submitted a DLT report to the UK Chancellor, while Figure, MoneyGram and Range have become validators on the XLM network. XRP has secured a full EU CASP license and an EMI license in Luxembourg, and XDC was cited among DLTs that DTCC works with. Separate updates include ALGO being featured in a World Bank CGAP report, ONDO partnering with Japan’s SBI Holdings, and IOTA ADAPT being highlighted at a WEF conference; these are enterprise DLT deployment developments and do not involve direct inflows or changes to tokenomics.

Raajmarg Infra, India’s first NHAI-sponsored listed InvIT, is considering a follow-on public offer (FPO) to widen retail participation and fund toll-road expansion. It has a Right of First Offer (ROFO) agreement with the National Highways Authority of India covering 1,500 km of future road assets to be transferred over the next three to five years. The InvIT has also said it aims to grow its initial portfolio through selective acquisitions of additional toll-road projects that meet its investment criteria.