Elon Musk might have hundreds of billions of dollars and a social media megaphone, but President Trump's power over the levers of government may put Musk's business empire at much more immediate risk.
The big picture: Virtually everything Musk does has huge regulatory exposure, from cars to spaceflight to neural implants.
Lululemon shares suffered a wicked slump today after the athleisure company reported that tariffs are hurting its profitability and dampening consumer demand.
📉 The stock closed down 19.8%.
State of play: Lululemon reduced its earnings forecast, saying that it expects 30% tariffs on Chinese imports and 10% elsewhere.
😬 "My sense is that in the U.S., consumers remain cautious right now, and they are being very intentional about their buying decisions," Lululemon CEO Calvin McDonald said on Thursday's after-hours earnings call.
🏷️ The company is working to source products from alternative locations, but CFO Meghan Frank said the retailer's planning "strategic price increases," which she said would be "modest in nature."
Universal Pictures has tagged Craig Brewer to direct its upcoming biopic on Snoop Dogg.
🎤 The untitled film is set to be the first project stemming from Universal's deal with Death Row Pictures, a production company offshoot from the iconic Death Row Records label acquired by Snoop in 2022, Deadline reports.
🎬 The Snoop biopic is written by Joe Robert Cole and produced by Snoop, Brian Grazer and Death Row Pictures president Sara Ramaker.
💰Universal hopes the film deliverslike its previous Big Screen features on hip-hop legends:
The studio scored over $200 million at the global box office with 2015's "Straight Outta Compton"about the rap group NWA, and over $240 million with 2002's "8 Mile," which featured Eminem, Hollywood Reporter notes.
What we're watching: Casting hasn't been revealed, and there's no word yet on when the feature might hit theaters.
DOGE employees can access millions of Americans' sensitive Social Security data, the Supreme Court ruled Friday in a party-line decision.
Why it matters: The ruling is a win for the Trump administration, which has charged the Department of Government Efficiency with rooting out alleged waste and fraud at the Social Security Administration.
Democrats are making clear Elon Musk has no place in their party as the billionaire former DOGE head quickly becomes persona non grata among Republicans.
Why it matters: While Democrats are basking in Musk's open break with President Trump, they see little political value — and potentially great risk — in actually embracing him as an ally.
The May jobs report looks fine on the surface, but underneath there are signs of weakening in the labor market.
Why it matters: The good news is that employers kept hiring at a healthy rate in May. But a few oddities in the report signal less momentum in the job market.
President Trump is considering selling his new Tesla as his scuffle with Elon Musk escalates, a White House official confirmed to Axios.
The big picture: The feud between the president and the billionaire is costing them billions, and Tesla shares specifically dropped 14.3% as of Thursday at a price tag of just under $20 billion for Musk.
The May jobs report looks fine on the surface, but underneath there are signs of weakening in the labor market.
Why it matters: The good news is that employers kept hiring at a healthy rate in May. But a few oddities in the report signal less momentum in the job market.
What they're saying: "There are now clear trends in the data, not just vague signs, that even if the train is chugging forward, more and more people are getting left behind at the station," Cory Stahle, an economist at job search site Indeed, wrote in a note.
"This isn't a bad report, per se, but there are clear signs of erosion just below the surface that may not be apparent just by looking only at the headline numbers," Stahle said.
The new numbers are the worst of all worlds for those hoping for Fed interest rate cuts — including the guy in the Oval Office.
State of play: The Fed is on high alert for any meaningful deterioration in the labor market, which could trigger interest rate cuts to try to fulfill its mandate for maximum employment.
This report didn't provide that — it's hard to square a stable unemployment rate and solid payroll growth with the kind of falloff in the job market that would bring in the rate-cutting cavalry, no matter what the beneath-the-surface details show.
Meanwhile, average hourly earnings rose 0.4% in May, an elevated level that suggests some residual inflation pressure remains in the job market.
Just a few months ago, investors were willing to massively increase the valuations of Elon Musk's companies, in part because of his proximity to Donald Trump and the centers of Washington power. That ended yesterday.
Why it matters: Markets and private investors attributed literally hundreds of billions of dollars of value to the idea that Musk's privileged access would flow to the success of Tesla, SpaceX, xAI and the like.
U.S. Steel workers and shareholders remain in limbo as to the status of its pending takeover by Japan's Nippon Steel, one week after President Trump suggested it was a done deal.
The big picture: We may not get a White House decision today, despite widespread expectations to the contrary.
Deel and Rippling are scheduled for a California court hearing in September, to begin hashing out their duelingcharges of corporate espionage.
Until then, it seems the HR software unicorns plan to keep escalating.
The latest: Rippling yesterday filed an amended complaint against Deel, which includes claims that Deel also illicitly targeted four other competitors (only one of which was named).
Private equity firm EQT on Friday said it'sagreed to acquire Waga Energy, via a two-part deal that would value the French biomethane producer at over $600 million.
Why it matters: This could set up expansion for Waga into the U.S., where biomethane may be one of the few types of renewables unhampered by the Trump administration — given that it utilizes existing natural gas infrastructure.
To honor the end of Elon Musk's "incredible" government service, President Trump presented his friend, adviser and billionaire benefactor with a golden key to the White House.
Six days later, Musk lit the place on fire.
Why it matters: The most powerful civilian ever has effectively declared war on the president of the United States, incinerating their relationship — at least for now — in one of history's most extraordinary political meltdowns.
Manufacturers appeared to stop rapidly stockpiling drugs and medical products from Europe in April, even amid the lingering threat of industry-specific tariffs from the Trump administration, according to federal trade data.
Why it matters: An importing surge seen early this spring may have created an inventory bubble, putting pressure on the companies to sell their products before they expire, experts said.
/2025/06/05/1749154490369.gif?w=3840)
