U.S. automaker stocks ticked up today as President Trump proposed rolling back fuel economy standards, lifting a massive regulatory cost burden on the industry.

• 🤑 Trump's tariffs have cost automakers billions — but his environmental policies are a boon to Ford, GM and Stellantis, who profit most from the larger gas-guzzling SUVs and trucks that Americans love to buy.

The big picture: Trump's been tearing up Biden administration policies he believes were intended to force EVs on Americans, and he framed his latest plan today as a commonsense strategy to make cars more affordable.

• "Today, we're taking one more step to kill the green new scam," Trump said at a White House event.

⛽️ By the numbers: Trump's proposal would require automakers to hit an average of 34.5 mpg across their fleets by 2031.

• That's significantly lower than the Biden-era target of 50 mpg, which would require lots of EV sales.

What they're saying: Automakers praised Trump's policies as more realistic than Biden's.

• "We appreciate President Trump's leadership in aligning fuel economy standards with market realities," said Ford CEO Jim Farley, who joined Trump at the White House with other auto execs.

📈 The impact: Stellantis shares jumped 8.5% from yesterday's low when reports of the move first emerged, while Ford (+1.7%) and GM (+3.6%) also moved higher since the news broke.

The other side: Environmental and clean-energy groups condemned the move.

What's next: Environmentalists are almost certain to challenge the new standards in court.

Go deeper

Dollar Tree is climbing out of a yearslong slump thanks to high-income consumers trading down to cheaper goods.

• The retailer today topped earnings expectations and raised its full-year outlook, giving its stock a jolt.

Zoom in: Dollar Tree reported that 3 million additional households shopped there in the third quarter, compared with the same period a year earlier.

• Of those, about 60% had household income of more than $100,000, CEO Michael Creedon Jr. said on an earnings call.
• "Today, we serve an increasingly broad spectrum of shoppers from core value-focused households to middle- and higher-income shoppers who are making deliberate choices about how and where they spend," Creedon added.

The big picture: The chain's newfound momentum illustrates how consumers are feeling increasingly stretched.

• The trade-down trend began emerging with discount and value retailers in 2022 as inflation surged — and it's persisted over the past year, boosting rivals like Dollar General and Walmart.

Flashback: Dollar Tree had been mired in a slump tied to myriad operational and financial issues, including quality problems and a soured acquisition of Family Dollar, which the company recently sold at a big loss.

The bottom line: People are looking to save.

🛫 Delta Air Lines said it expects to absorb a $200 million decline in profit in the fourth quarter in connection with the government shutdown. (Bloomberg)

🕵️‍♂️ Meta has reportedly poached Alan Dye, Apple's most prominent design executive. (Bloomberg)

🛍️ Macy's recorded its strongest sales growth in more than three years but also warned that it expects consumers to become more selective in their spending. (CNBC)

Bad Bunny was the top global artist in Spotify's annual breakdown of people's listening habits, breaking Taylor Swift's two-year streak, Axios' Maxwell Millington reports.

• 🎤 Bad Bunny released his six-time Grammy nominated album, "Debí Tirar Más Fotos," in January. It was the most popular album of the year globally in the Spotify Wrapped recap released today.
• Swift released her latest project in October.

🌎 Zoom in: The top global song was "Die With a Smile" by Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars.

• 🇺🇸 The top song in the U.S. was "Luther (with sza)" by Kendrick Lamar and SZA.
• 🎙️The top U.S. podcast of 2025 was "The Joe Rogan Experience."

See the full list