Foreign automakers are stumbling as the Trump administration's trade war delivers a bruising blow and Chinese automakers bear down.

• Why it matters: Much of the U.S. conversation over the impact of auto tariffs has centered on Detroit's Big Three — but the blast zone extends far beyond General Motors, Ford and Stellantis.

By the numbers: Nissan — which was already facing operational issues — said today its quarterly loss doubled from a year ago.

• Mercedes-Benz posted a 9.2% drop in 2025 revenue, while net profit fell nearly in half.
• Honda disclosed a 42% plunge in profit and a 2% decline in revenue.
• Toyota last week replaced its CEO after projecting a 25% decline in net income for the year ended March 31.
• Volvo Cars reported an 11% revenue decline in 2025 and swung to a loss from a profit a year earlier.

The big picture: Trump's protectionist trade framework has bludgeoned foreign automakers — even those with U.S. production footprints.

• For example, Toyota and Honda have significant American manufacturing operations but continue to rely heavily on an international supply chain, including imports from Japan.

Meanwhile, Chinese automakers like BYD are surging in markets outside the U.S., presenting a serious threat to the Asian and European automakers.

• BYD last year sold more vehicles than Ford for the first time — and sold more pure electric vehicles than Tesla, another first.

The bottom line: No automaker is immune to global trade and technology turmoil.

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Existing home sales posted their largest monthly sales decline in four years despite increasing affordability.

• 📉 Existing home sales fell 8.4% from December to January, the National Association of Realtors reported today — more than economists expected.
• Sales were down 4.4% from a year earlier, hitting a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.91 million.

Zoom in: The decline was most acute for single-family homes, where sales fell 9%.

Between the lines: The decline came despite NAR's data showing that housing is the most affordable it's been since March 2022, factoring in wage gains and mortgage rates, NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said.

• 🥶 Cold, snowy weather might've played a role too, while economic jitters are still impacting buyers, he added.

The bottom line: Despite declining sales, median prices rose for the 31st straight month year over year, up 0.9% to $396,800.

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🤖 Anthropic raised $30 billion in one of the largest private funding rounds in tech history, and the Claude developer said demand for its tools has risen exponentially just this year. (Axios)

🍏 Apple received a warning from the FTC that its Apple News product may violate federal law in how it curates news articles from across the political spectrum. (WSJ)

🚗 CarMax named former InterContinental Hotels Group leader Keith Barr as its new CEO. The struggling used-car retailer fired William D. Nash in November. (Bloomberg)

🍔 Restaurant Brands International reported a 3.1% increase in same-store sales at Burger King as the fast-food industry engages in value wars. (CNBC)

If global tourism picks up this year, the K-pop group BTS could be a meaningful factor.

State of play: The musical act's big comeback is on hand with a huge world tour this year — and flights and hotel rooms are already selling out, CNBC reports.

• Searches for travel to "Arirang" tour cities like Busan, South Korea, and Kaohsiung, Taiwan, have spiked.
• Concert tickets sold out in 20 minutes after they went on sale recently.
• "Some tickets featured on the resale platform StubHub [are] going for around $7,276, nearly 40 times the original price," according to CNBC.

Context: BTS was on a temporary hiatus while the group members performed mandatory service in the South Korean military.

💭 Nathan's thought bubble: This could make Taylor Swift tickets look like a bargain.