Axios Closer

July 01, 2025
Tuesday ✅. The Senate voted 51-50 to pass their version of President Trump's "big, beautiful bill" today, but their changes have ignited a firestorm in the House.
Today's newsletter is 515 words, a 2-minute read.
🔔 The dashboard: The S&P 500 closed down 0.1%.
🔥 Today's stock spotlight: Las Vegas Sands (+8.9%). Casino stocks jumped today after Macao reported strong gaming demand.
1 big thing: Trump-Musk fallout
The Trump-Musk feud isn't over after all.
- The impact: Fresh threats from the president today dragged down Tesla shares and reignited questions about crucial subsidies and government contracts that benefit Musk's other companies, like SpaceX.
🗣️ Catch up quick: Trump threatened to unleash DOGE on Musk, saying "we're going to save a fortune."
- The President even suggested he might look at deporting Musk (who's a naturalized U.S. citizen).
🥊 Context: The war of words erupted over the past 24 hours, with Musk taking to X to vent his objections to the president's "big, beautiful bill" and the estimated trillions of dollars it would add to the national debt.
- Musk, who has been griping about the bill for weeks, threatened to throw his money behind primary challenges for Republicans who support the bill, and he floated the idea Monday of a new political party.
😡 The latest: "Elon may get more subsidy than any human being in history, by far, and without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa," Trump posted on Truth Social early this morning.
- "No more Rocket launches, Satellites, or Electric Car Production, and our Country would save a FORTUNE," he wrote.
📉 Threat level: Tesla shares closed down 5.3% today. They're down over 12% since early June when Musk first started going after the spending bill, which was followed in short order by a full schism with the president, Axios' Ben Berkowitz writes.
2. On deck: Tesla deliveries


Tesla is slated to report second-quarter production and deliveries figures tomorrow morning.
- 🔍 By the numbers: The company reported a 13% drop in deliveries in the first quarter, and analysts are expecting a similar number again this time.
🎢 The big picture: Tesla's stock has seen some big ups and downs over the past 12 months.
- 📈 In that time, it is up 43%, mainly driven by investor enthusiasm for the future of its robotaxi business.
- 📉 Year to date shares are down 26%, dragged down by the company's auto deliveries numbers and Musk's increasingly volatile relationship with Trump.
3. Other happenings
👚 Lululemon is suing Costco Wholesale, accusing the retailer of selling cheaper, unauthorized imitations of some of its popular clothing items. (Axios)
🔔 Figma, the design software company whose $20 billion merger with Adobe was scrapped in 2023, has filed for an IPO. (Axios)
🎙️ Tomorrow's the deadline to file a claim for a piece of Apple's $95 million class-action lawsuit settlement over allegations that the voice-activated Siri assistant violated users' privacy by recording conversations. (Axios)
4. Amazon's many robots
The robots are taking over at Amazon.
- 🤖 The online retail giant now has more than 1 million robots working in its warehouse facilities — and they're close to outnumbering humans, WSJ reported.
Between the lines: Robots are doing a lot of the heavy lifting. Literally. And for some existing workers, that's led to more advanced work and better pay overseeing systems.
Yes, but: They are also reducing the need for human jobs. The WSJ reported that the average number of Amazon employees per facility last year was the lowest it has been in 16 years.
🗓️ On this day in 1997, Hong Kong reverted to Chinese rule. For the previous 156 years, the island had been under British control, during which it became a crucial commercial and financial gateway linking the East and West.
Today's newsletter was edited by Pete Gannon and copy edited by Sheryl Miller.
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