When President Donald Trump launched the “Gold Card” visa program last December, the official website promised U.S. residency in “record time.” A new court filing, however, suggests that applicants who pay $1 million for a Gold Card won’t get faster visas.

The Gold Card, touted as a new kind of investment visa that would raise revenue and attract tens of thousands of overseas millionaires and billionaires to the U.S., has been dogged by delays and legal questions. In December, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick predicted that the government would issue 80,000 Gold Cards and raise more than $100 billion in revenue.

Yet the Department of Homeland Security revealed in a legal filing last week that only 338 people have so far submitted requests for a Gold Card. Only 165 people have paid the $15,000 visa processing fee.

The court filing also contradicted the government’s previous statements on processing time. A key selling point for the Gold Card is rapid approval. The website promised visas in “record time” and “a matter of weeks.” The court filing said Gold Card applicants will not get special treatment or more rapid approval times than applicants for traditional visas.

“Gold Card applicants will not necessarily have their petitions adjudicated faster than any non-Gold-Card applicant,” DHS said in the filing.

Craig Becker, managing counsel for the Affirmative Litigation Democracy Defenders Fund, who is litigating a lawsuit against the Gold Card’s legality, said the contradiction stems from the program’s precarious legal standing. To attract interest, the White House had to promise a fast-track process. Yet to oppose the lawsuit, which claims the Gold Card displaces applicants for the government’s existing EB-1 and EB-2 programs, DHS contended that Gold Card applicants don’t get priority or any special treatment.

“We just don’t know what the real answer is because there is no transparency,” Becker said.

The Commerce Department and DHS declined to comment. Immigration attorneys said the program is still in its early days and could eventually become successful if it’s approved by Congress and builds a track record of approvals.

Yet the court filing is the latest challenge to a program that promised to cash in on the fast-growing business of investment visas for the world’s wealthy. More millionaires and billionaires are on the move than ever before. The number of millionaires expected to move to another country in 2026 reached 165,000, according to Henley & Partners. Geopolitical turmoil, tax hikes on the wealthy and political discord have driven more wealthy to seek backup plans and residency in other countries.

America remains a sought-after destination for the global elite. Its existing investment visa program, the EB-5, often has long waiting lists and backlogs. Trump sought to raise money from the demand by creating a new program, offering residency for a $1 million nonrefundable gift to the government.

Because only Congress can set immigration law, Trump created the Gold Card through executive order. It uses the existing visa categories, the EB-1 and EB-2, which are reserved for people with extraordinary abilities or of national interest. Under the Gold Card, the $1 million automatically qualifies an applicant as having a special or extraordinary ability.

The lawsuit from the American Association of University Professors claimed that since Congress limits number of EB-1 and EB-2 visas each year, the Gold Card program will crowd out EB-1 and EB-2 applicants and “result in qualified, merits-based applicants not being awarded visas.”

“The program is clearly unlawful,” Becker said.

In its response, DHS said the Gold Card program has no impact on EB-1 and EB-2 applicants, since there are more than enough visas and the Gold Card has its own dedicated processing staff.

The legal battle is one reason the overseas wealthy remain wary of the program. Immigration attorneys who specialize in investment visas said their high-net-worth clients don’t want to risk $1 million until the Gold Card is tested in the courts or approved by Congress. Confusion over the wait times will only add to their skepticism, they said.

“Without expedited processing, the Gold Card is unlikely to be attractive to individuals from countries with backlogs,” said Reaz Jafri, CEO of Dasein Advisors, a New York-based immigration consultancy. “With expedited processing, it would have been very attractive to all and a game changer.”

Attorneys said the troubled Gold Card program has only added to interest in the existing investment visa program, the EB-5, which has seen a surge in applications. The program provides U.S. residency in exchange for an investment of $800,000 to $1 million that creates at least 10 full-time jobs.

“International businesspeople can already access the U.S. through nonimmigrant visas that do not automatically expose their global wealth to U.S. tax,” said David Lesperance of Lesperance & Associates. “Those who are willing to become taxpayers can already gain green card status through the EB-5 program, which requires an investment rather than the donation.”

Bank of Baroda (BoB) reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 5,616 crore for the March-ended quarter, up 11.2% from Rs 5,048 crore in the year ago period. The state-lender’s net interest income (NII) rose 9% year-on-year to Rs 12,494 crore in Q4FY26, compared to Rs 11,494 crore in the corresponding quarter of the last financial year.

Meanwhile, non-interest income fell 16% to Rs 3,967 crore in the quarter under review, down from Rs 4,735 crore in Q4FY25.

Deposits

Global deposits jumped 12% from Rs 14.72 lakh crore in Q4FY25 to Rs 16.48 lakh crore in Q4FY26. In this, domestic deposits stood at Rs 14.01 lakh crore, up 13% YoY from Rs 12.42 crore in Q4FY25. Meanwhile, international deposits increased 7.5% to Rs 2.47 lakh crore versus Rs 2.29 lakh crore in the year-ago period.

Advances

PSU lender’s global advances jumped 16% to Rs 14.29 lakh crore versus Rs 12.30 lakh crore in the year-ago period. In this, domestic gross advances increased 15% to Rs 11.69 lakh crore in Q4FY26 versus Rs 10.21 lakh crore in Q4FY25.

Total business witnessed 14% YoY growth to Rs 30.78 lakh crore.

Asset quality
Gross NPAs fell 37 bps to 1.89% in Q4FY26 from 2.26% in Q4FY25 while the NET NPA declined 13 bps to 0.45% in Q4FY26 versus 0.58% in Q4FY25.
However, Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) fell 137 bps to 15.82% in Q4FY26 from 17.19% in the year ago period.

The operating profit stood at Rs 9,069 crore, up 11.5% from 8,132 crore in the year ago period.

Dividend

The company recommended a dividend of Rs 8.50 per equity share for the FY26 subject to the approval at the upcoming 30th Annual General Meeting of the bank. It has fixed record/cut off date as June 5, 2026 for the purpose of dividend payment.

(Disclaimer: The recommendations, suggestions, views, and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times.)

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Sappi Limited (SPPJY) Q2 2026 Earnings Call May 7, 2026 9:00 AM EDT

Company Participants

Stephen Binnie – CEO & Executive Director
Michael Haws – Chief Executive Officer of Sappi North America
Marco Eikelenboom – Chief Executive Officer of Sappi Europe
Glen Pearce – CFO & Executive Director
Graeme Wild – CEO of Sappi Southern Africa

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Conference Call Participants

James Twyman – Prescient Securities (Pty) Ltd., Research Division
Brian Morgan – Morgan Stanley, Research Division
Sean Ungerer – Chronux Research Pty. Ltd
Detlef Winckelmann – JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division
Saul Casadio – M&G Investment Management Limited

Presentation

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Operator

Good day, and welcome to the Sappi FY 2026 Results Call. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that today’s conference call is being recorded.

I would now like to hand you over to your host today, CEO, Steve Binnie. Please go ahead.

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Stephen Binnie
CEO & Executive Director

Thank you, operator, and good day to everybody. Thanks for joining us. As always, I’ll go through the investor [ presentation ], calling out the page numbers as I move along. And to start just on Page 2, just to draw your attention to our comments around forward-looking statements.

Moving to Slide 3, which is a high-level summary of the quarter and the results. And it’s fair to say it’s been a very challenging quarter. And perhaps just focus on some of the larger items that have influenced the performance. And it’s really 2 broad themes. And firstly, it’s selling prices were down across all the regions and linked to the weak market conditions. But more specifically, the DWP price was substantially lower than a year ago market prices, $130 actually lower than a year ago. So that had a substantial impact.

We also — we’ve seen packaging prices globally come under pressure, which has had an impact on our markets even

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This story about the April 2026 jobs report is developing and will be updated with further details.

The U.S. economy added jobs at a modest pace in April amid uncertainty surrounding the impact of conflict in the Middle East on the labor market.

What are the key findings of the April 2026 jobs report?

The Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday reported that employers added 115,000 jobs in April. That figure is above the estimates of economists polled by LSEG, who predicted a gain of 62,000 jobs.

The unemployment rate held steady at 4.3%, which was in line with the expectations of LSEG economists.

Revisions were made to the payroll numbers for the prior two months, with February revised down by 23,000 from a loss of 133,000 to a decline of 156,000; while March’s report was revised up by 7,000 from a gain of 178,000 to 185,000.

Taken together, employment in February and March was 16,000 jobs lower than previously reported.

What sectors added or lost the most jobs in April 2026?

What does the April 2026 jobs report mean for the workforce?

What experts are saying about the April 2026 jobs report

Kalyan Jewellers India on Friday reported a net profit of Rs 409.5 crore for the March quarter of FY26, more than doubling (118.2%) from Rs 187.6 crore recorded in the corresponding period last year.

Revenue from operations rose 66.2% year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 10,274.9 crore, compared with Rs 6,181.5 crore in the year-ago quarter.

EBITDA increased 84.2% to Rs 735.7 crore versus Rs 399.4 crore reported a year earlier.

EBITDA margin also improved to 7.2% from 6.5% in the corresponding quarter last year, the company said in a regulatory filing on Friday.

Alongside earnings, the board has recommended a final dividend of Rs 2.50 per equity share of face value Rs 10 each, representing 25% for the financial year ended March 31, 2026.

The proposed dividend is subject to the approval of shareholders at the company’s upcoming Annual General Meeting.
The company reported revenue of Rs 1,157 crore from its international operations in Q4FY26, marking a growth of over 43% compared with Rs 807 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.Profit after tax from the international business stood at Rs 29 crore during the quarter, more than doubling from Rs 14 crore reported in the year-ago period, reflecting a growth of 105%.

The company’s lifestyle jewellery platform Candere recorded revenue of Rs 131 crore and profit of Rs 3 crore in Q4FY26.

Commenting on the performance, Ramesh Kalyanaraman, Executive Director of Kalyan Jewellers India, said the company ended the previous financial year on a strong note and has carried the momentum into the current year as well.

“We witnessed strong growth in our Akshaya Tritiya sales this year, and continue to see encouraging momentum in consumer demand, especially around wedding purchases during the current quarter,” he said.

Following Q4, Kalyan Jewellers India share price gained 4.3% to the day’s high of Rs 429 on the BSE.

The Indian stock market extended losses for the second consecutive session amid fresh escalations in the war between Iran and US, with the Sensex and Nifty 50 dropping more than 0.6% each while the smallcap index closed in the green and continued to outperform benchmarks.

Sensex declined around 516 points to close at 77,328, while the Nifty 50 index dropped 150 points to end the session at 24,176. This came as India VIX, which measures market volatility, gained around 2% to 16.92.

State Bank of India (SBI) shares tumbled 7% after the lender’s Q4 earnings failed to impress markets. HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finance, Axis Bank and UltraTech Cement dropped around 2% each to follow SBI as Sensex top losers. Titan shares meanwhile surged 5% after Q4 earnings. Asian Paints shares gained 3%, while Adani Ports, Infosys, HCLTech and TechM shares gained 1-2%.

Despite the overall downturn, Nifty Smallcap 100 rose 0.2% to close in the green. Nifty Midcap 100 index however fell 0.2%. Sectorally, Nifty PSU Bank declined more than 3% to lead losses, while Nifty IT gained 1%. Around 1,783 stocks declined on the NSE, while 1,501 advanced and 101 remained unchanged.

What’s bothering markets?

Notably, the market downturn comes amid the seesaw political developments in the Middle East. US President Donald Trump said that three American Navy destroyers were attacked as they moved through the strait. Trump later told reporters the ceasefire was still in effect and sought to play down the exchange.

Amid these flip-flops, oil prices gained. Brent crude rose over 1% to $101 per barrel. While Brent crude prices have significantly reduced after hitting as high as $120 per barrel last week, they still remain above the crucial $100 per barrel mark, spooking investors.
“The de-escalation and escalation drama in West Asia continues, with crude prices moving down and up in response. An important market trend amid this crisis is that despite geopolitical tensions, some markets are doing extremely well while others are performing poorly. South Korea and Taiwan are the star performers this year, with 71% and 40% returns YTD. These excellent returns have been generated by a few AI stocks. In contrast, India, impacted by the energy crisis, has delivered negative returns, with Nifty posting a -6.96% return YTD,” said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Investments.An important trend in India is the outperformance of the broader market, according to the market analyst. He highlighted that the Nifty Midcap index hit a record high yesterday despite high valuations. Nifty is being weighed down by sustained FPI selling, particularly in heavyweights in banking and IT, according to the analyst.

Rupee tumbles

The rupee declined 25 paise to 94.47 against the US dollar in early trade. This came after the Indian currency recorded sharp gains over the past two sessions, recovering from an all-time low of 95.4325 hit earlier in the week.

“The broader outlook remains sensitive to crude prices and final clarity on the US–Iran proposal,” said Jateen Trivedi, VP Research Analyst of Commodity and Currency at LKP Securities.

FII selling

Foreign investors remained net sellers of Indian equities for the third consecutive session on Thursday, although the quantum was significantly lower than in the previous two days. FIIs net sold Indian shares worth Rs 341 crore, according to provisional data from the NSE.

Global markets, meanwhile, also remained in the red, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng declined nearly 1% and South Korea’s Kospi closed with marginal gains on Friday, while Japan’s Nikkei dropped 0.35%.

European benchmark indices, including the UK’s FTSE and Germany’s DAX, fell up to 1%. Wall Street lost steam and closed in the red yesterday.

(With inputs from agencies)
(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)

Tata Consumer Products on Friday reported that its consolidated net profit of Rs 419 crore in the fourth quarter. This was higher by 21% from Rs 345 crore posted in the previous year quarter. Revenue from operations increased 18% YoY to Rs 5,434 crore.

The Board has also recommended a dividend of Rs 10 per share for FY26. The dividend, if approved by shareholders, will be paid/dispatched (subject to deduction of tax at source) on or after June 15, 2026.

More to come…