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The U.S. Supreme Court handed Donald Trump a major victory on Monday as he campaigns to regain the presidency, overturning a judicial decision that had excluded him from Colorado's ballot under a constitutional provision involving insurrection for inciting and supporting the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack. The justices unanimously reversed a Dec. 19 decision by Colorado's top court to kick Trump off the state's Republican primary ballot on Tuesday after finding that the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment disqualified him from again holding public office. Trump is the frontrunner for the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden in the Nov. 5 U.S. election. His only remaining rival for his party's nomination is former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley. "BIG WIN FOR AMERICA!!!," Trump wrote on his social media platform immediately after the ruling. The 14th Amendment's Section 3 bars from office any "officer of the United States" who took an oath "to support the Constitution of the United States" and then "engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof." "We conclude that states may disqualify persons holding or attempting to hold state office. But states have no power under the Constitution to enforce Section 3 with respect to federal offices, especially the presidency," the unsigned opinion for the court stated. The justices found that only Congress can enforce the provision against federal officeholders and candidates. Trump was also barred from the ballot in Maine and Illinois based on the 14th Amendment, but those decisions were put on hold pending the Supreme Court's ruling in the Colorado case. Trump's eligibility had been challenged in court by a group of six voters in Colorado - four Republicans and two independents - who portrayed him as a threat to American democracy and sought to hold him accountable for the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters. The plaintiffs were backed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a liberal watchdog group. The ruling came on the eve of Super Tuesday, the day in the U.S. presidential primary cycle when the most states hold party nominating contests. As lawsuits seeking to disqualify Trump cropped up across the country, it was important for his candidacy to clear any hurdles to appear on the ballot in all 50 states. The Supreme Court resolved the Colorado ballot dispute speedily, a timeline that stands in contrast to its slower handling of Trump's bid for immunity from criminal prosecution in a federal case in which he faces charges for trying to overturn his 2020 election loss. Trump's trial has been put on hold awaiting the outcome of the Supreme Court's decision - a benefit for him as he campaigns against Biden. In the Colorado dispute, the justices agreed to take up the case a mere two days after Trump filed his appeal, fast-tracked arguments and issued the written opinion in just over two months. The justices in the immunity case in December declined a bid to speed up resolution of the matter before a lower court had weighed in, then last week agreed to take up the matter after lower courts had ruled - setting arguments to take place in late April, a much longer timeline. The Supreme Court's 6-3 conservative majority includes three Trump appointees. Not since ruling in the landmark case Bush v. Gore, which handed the disputed 2000 U.S. election to Republican George W. Bush over Democrat Al Gore, has the court played such a central role in a presidential race. In a bid to prevent Congress from certifying Biden's 2020 election victory, Trump supporters attacked police, broke through barricades and swarmed the Capitol. Trump gave an incendiary speech to supporters beforehand, repeating his false claims of widespread voting fraud and telling them to go to the Capitol and "fight like hell." He then for hours rebuffed requests that he urge the mob to stop. The 14th Amendment was ratified in the aftermath of the Civil War of 1861-1865 in which seceding Southern states that allowed the practice of slavery rebelled against the U.S. government. In ruling against Trump, Colorado's top court cited the "general atmosphere of political violence that President Trump created" and that he aided "the insurrectionists' common unlawful purpose of preventing the peaceful transfer of power in this country." The Supreme Court heard arguments on Feb. 8. Trump's lawyer argued that he is not subject to the disqualification language because a president is not an "officer of the United States," that the provision cannot be enforced by courts absent congressional legislation, and that what occurred on Jan. 6 was shameful, criminal and violent but not an insurrection. Many Republicans have decried the ballot disqualification drive as election interference, while proponents of disqualification have said holding Trump constitutionally accountable for an insurrection supports democratic values.

Capital market regulator Sebi has approved IPOs of three companies including that of new age insurance company Go Digit, which is backed by star cricketer Virat Kohli.Digit's IPO has hit multiple hurdles over compliance issues, which delayed approval for the public offer. Sebi had returned the draft offer document twice as the regulator raised concerns over share issuance.Go Digit, which operates in the general insurance sector and counts Canadian billionaire Prem Watsa's Fairfax Group and A91 Partners among its backers, refiled its IPO papers with Sebi in March last year, which the regulator has now approved.The IPO comprises a fresh issue of shares worth Rs 1,250 crore ($152.1 million) and an offer for sale of 109.4 million shares, according to the draft prospectus.The insurance firm plans to utilise the net proceeds towards augmenting its capital base and maintaining the solvency levels.Go Digit has incurred an underwriting loss of Rs 1,917 crore and earned an investment income of Rs 746 crore between 2018 and 2022, implying a net operating loss of Rs 1,171 crore during this period.The company in consultation with merchant bankers to the issue may consider a pre-IPO placement aggregating up to Rs 250 crore. If such placement is completed, the fresh issue size will be reduced.ICICI Securities, Morgan Stanley India, Axis Capital, Edelweiss Financial Services, HDFC Bank, and IIFL Securities are the book-running lead managers for the IPO.Bengaluru-based Denta Water and Infra Solutions Limited, a seasoned player in the field of water engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) services, has also received the final observation from Sebi. The company had filed preliminary IPO papers with Sebi on December 11, 2023.The IPO, with a face value of Rs 10, is entirely a fresh issue of up to 7.5 million equity shares with no offer for sale (OFS) component.The proceeds from the fresh issue, to the extent of Rs 150 crore, will be used to meet working capital requirements.Meanwhile, KRN Heat Exchanger and Refrigeration, which had filed its draft papers in January this year, also received Sebi approval for an IPO, which is an entirely fresh issue of 1.93 crore equity shares.

Nifty ended 27 points higher above the 22,400 level on Monday to form an indecisive Doji candle on the daily charts.Any dips from here could be a buying opportunity towards the support of 22,225-22,200 levels. The near-term upside targets to be watched around 22,600-22,800 levels, Nagaraj Shetti, Senior Technical Research Analyst, HDare FC Securities.Upon scrutinizing the Open Interest (OI) data, the call side revealed the highest OI at 22,500, followed by the 22,800 strike prices. On the put side, the maximum OI was observed at the 22,200 strike price.What should traders do? Here’s what analysts said:Jatin Gedia, SharekhanOn the daily charts, we can observe that Nifty has been inching higher and more importantly held on to the gains which is a positive sign. This consolidation should be considered as a healthy sign and in case the index dips in the process of retesting the breakout (22,300 – 22,250) it should be considered as a buying opportunity. The key hourly moving averages placed in the range 22,290- 22,230 shall act as a crucial support zone and potential entry zone in case of a dip. The initial target on the upside is placed at 22570 – 22600 where the hourly upper Bollinger band is placed.Tejas Shah, Technical Research, JM Financial & BlinkXNifty closed above the crucial resistance zone of 22,250-300 levels for two consecutive days, which is a positive sign. Support for Nifty is now seen at 22,250-300 and 22,125-150 levels. On the higher side, the immediate resistance zone for Nifty is at 22,450-500 levels and the next resistance is at 22,700 Mark. Overall, all dips should be used as an opportunity to buy.Sheersham Gupta, RupeezyNifty traded in a narrow range of 80 points the entire day. However, in a 30-minute timeframe, Nifty can be seen rejecting prices at lower levels. The put-call ratio (PCR) stands at 1.26 indicating a bullish bias for the index. As per the option chain, 22,500 is expected to offer some resistance and once that level is breached, it can march towards 22,720. On the downside, support is anticipated in the range of 22,250-22,300.(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)

Apple was hit with an EU antitrust fine of over 1.8 billion euros ($1.95 billion) on Monday, its first ever, for preventing Spotify and other music streaming services from informing users of payment options outside its App Store. The European Commission's decision was triggered by a 2019 complaint by Swedish music streaming service Spotify over this restriction and Apple's 30% App Store fees. The European Union competition enforcer said Apple's restrictions constituted unfair trading conditions, a relatively novel argument in an antitrust case and also used by the Dutch antitrust agency in a decision against Apple in 2021 in a case brought by dating app providers. The EU competition enforcer said it added an additional lump sum of 1.8 billion euros to the basic amount as a deterrent to Apple and because a significant part of the harm caused by Apple's conduct was non-monetary. It did not say what the basic amount was. ""For a decade, Apple abused its dominant position in the market for the distribution of music streaming apps through the App Store," EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager said in a statement. "They did so by restricting developers from informing consumers about alternative, cheaper music services available outside of the Apple ecosystem. This is illegal under EU antitrust rules," she said. Apple criticised the EU decision, saying it would challenge it in court. "The decision was reached despite the Commission's failure to uncover any credible evidence of consumer harm, and ignores the realities of a market that is thriving, competitive, and growing fast," the company said in a statement. "The primary advocate for this decision - and the biggest beneficiary - is Spotify, a company based in Stockholm, Sweden. Spotify has the largest music streaming app in the world, and has met with the European Commission more than 65 times during this investigation," it said. It said the Swedish company pays no commission to Apple as it sells its subscriptions on its website and not on Apple's App Store. Vestager's order to Apple to remove its App Store restrictions echoes the same requirement under new EU tech rules known as the Digital Markets Act (DMA) which Apple has to comply with on March 7. Apple's fine, however, is about a quarter of the 8.25 billion euro fines the EU regulator meted out to Alphabet's Google in three cases in the previous decade. In contrast to the music streaming case, Apple is seeking to settle another EU antitrust investigation by offering to open up its tap-and-go mobile payment systems to rivals. EU regulators, who subsequently sought feedback from rivals and users, will likely accept its offer without fining the company.