UK’s highest court largely overturns ruling on auto finance payments

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s highest court Friday largely overturned a lower court’s ruling that certain car finance agreements were unlawful, a decision likely to bring a sigh of relief among lenders and limit the scale of compensation payments. A Supreme Court panel of five judges sided with lenders on two of the three issues at hand, finding that they are effectively not liable for hidden commission payments to dealers. It said there was no bribery involved in the purchase arrangements and that dealers did not have a legal obligation that required them to act only in the customers’ interest. “No reasonable onlooker would think that, by offering to find a suitable finance package to enable the customer to obtain the car, the dealer was thereby giving up, rather than continuing to pursue, its own commercial objective of securing a profitable sale of the car,” the judges said.

Wall Street drifts as stock markets worldwide take Trump’s new tariffs in stride

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks drifted to a mixed finish on Thursday as President Donald Trump’s tariffs taking effect on dozens of countries had only a muted effect on markets worldwide. The S&P 500 slipped 0.1% after briefly climbing to the cusp of its all-time high during the morning. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 224 points, or 0.5%, and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.3% to a record.

The U.S. tariffs that took effect Thursday morning were already well known, as well as lower than what Trump had initially threatened. Some countries are still trying to negotiate down the tax rates on their exports, and continued uncertainty seems to be the only certainty on Wall Street. All the while, the U.S. stock market faces criticism that it’s climbed too far, too fast since hitting a bottom in April, with prices looking too expensive.