Axios Closer

April 29, 2025
Tuesday ✅.
Today's newsletter is 617 words, a 2.5-minute read.
🔔 The dashboard: The S&P 500 closed up 0.6%.
- Biggest gainer? SBA Communications (+6.8%), delivered strong Q1 results yesterday and announced a $1.5 billion share repurchase program.
- Biggest decliner? NXP Semiconductor (-6.9%), the chip company, warned of uncertainty around tariffs and disclosed CEO Kurt Sievers would step down at the end of the year.
1 big thing: Automakers smile thinly
President Trump just delivered relief on some tariffs for the auto industry before heading to Michigan to celebrate 100 days in office, but automakers aren't in a partying mood, Axios' Joann Muller writes.
- The latest: Trump signed a proclamation today amending auto sector tariffs before departing for the 6pm ET rally outside Detroit.
Zoom in: The order reduces tariffs paid on imported foreign parts for cars finished in the U.S. by up to 15% of the value of the finished car. That would move down to 10% next year.
- Tariffs on the industry will also not be "stacked" on top of some other levies imposed by the administration — including those on steel or aluminum.
State of play: As recently as this morning, automakers have been in strategic limbo while they waited to learn the latest twist in the president's trade policy.
- Case in point: GM today pulled its earnings guidance for the year, suspended a $4 billion share buyback plan and postponed its earnings call, citing the need for more information on tariffs.
What they're saying: Executives from GM, Stellantis and Ford welcomed the relief in public statements today.
- "They're playing nice in the short term but now they have to start assessing their mid-term and long-term strategies," Lenny LaRocca, U.S. auto sector leader for the consulting firm KPMG, tells Axios.
2. GLP-1 roller coaster


Hims & Hers shares soared today after Novo Nordisk said it would sell weight-loss drug Wegovy at a discount on the telehealth platform.
- Why it matters: Hims is under pressure to offer GLP-1 drugs to its customers now that shortages are over and pharmacies are largely restricted from offering compounded versions of the medicines.
Driving the news: Novo will sell Wegovy on Hims, LifeMD and Ro via its direct-to-consumer platform NovoCare.
- The price will start at $499, a 63% discount in the U.S. before subscription fees, Bloomberg reported.
State of play: Novo rival Eli Lilly already has deals with other telehealth platforms like Ro to distribute its obesity drug Zepbound, starting at $349 for a month's supply, according to Bloomberg.
- Hims currently sells Zepbound at the full price.
By the numbers: Hims stock closed up 23% today, but is still off nearly 50% from its high in February, before the FDA declared that Ozempic and Wegovy were no longer in short supply.
3. Retailers shun itemized tariffs
Imposing transaction fees to account for President Trump's tariffs might sound enticing to businesses, but it's a political risky endeavor that threatens to backfire quickly.
- Zoom in: A report today that Amazon was poised to add a tariff surcharge to purchases in the U.S. triggered outrage in the White House, which condemned it as a "hostile and political act."
Soon thereafter, an Amazon spokesperson said it was briefly under consideration only for budget shopping site Amazon Haul. "This was never approved and is not going to happen," the spokesperson said.
- We reached out to Walmart, the world's largest retailer, where a spokesperson told Axios' Kelly Tyko that the company does "not itemize what goes into the cost of goods on our website."
💭 Nathan's thought bubble: I guess they'll have to do price increases the old-fashioned way: by not telling people why.
4. What else is happening
📦 UPS is cutting 20,000 positions after dramatically reducing deliveries for Amazon, its largest competitor. (Axios)
👟 Adidas said it would raise prices in the U.S. because of tariffs. The apparel company did not say by how much. (CNBC)
🥤Coca-Cola said increased tariffs will be manageable. The company maintained its profit and sales guidance. (Bloomberg)
5. What they're saying
"The rollout is happening very quickly."— Starbucks chief technology officer Deb Hall Lefevre, to the WSJ, on the company debuting a system that cuts two minutes off the average time to make a drink.
Today's newsletter was edited by Pete Gannon and copy edited by Carolyn DiPaolo.
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