Will tariffs affect mortgage rates? What to know about the housing market.
As stock markets plunged and economists warned of a potential recession after President Donald Trump's implementation of massive new tariffs this week, some Americans wonder whether there may be a silver lining — lower mortgage rates.
Trump on Wednesday announced the largest increase in tariffs in U.S. history, a move he says will revitalize domestic manufacturing and amount to a 'Declaration of Economic Independence.' His order imposes a new 10 percent tariff on all imported goods and higher import taxes tailored to about 60 countries.
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11 minutes ago
Musk could lose billions of dollars depending on how spat with Trump unfolds
NEW YORK -- The world's richest man could lose billions in his fight with world's most powerful politician. The feud between Elon Musk and Donald Trump could mean Tesla's plans for self-driving cars hit a roadblock, SpaceX flies fewer missions for NASA, Starlink gets fewer overseas satellite contracts and the social media platform X loses advertisers. Maybe, that is. It all depends on Trump's appetite for revenge and how the dispute unfolds. Joked Telemetry Insight auto analyst Sam Abuelsamid, 'Since Trump has no history of retaliating against perceived adversaries, he'll probably just let this pass.' Turning serious, he sees trouble ahead for Musk. 'For someone that rants so much about government pork, all of Elon's businesses are extremely dependent on government largesse, which makes him vulnerable.' Trump and the federal government also stand to lose from a long-running dispute, but not as much as Musk. The dispute comes just a week before a planned test of Tesla's driverless taxis in Austin, Texas, a major event for the company because sales of its EVs are lagging in many markets, and Musk needs a win. Trump can mess things up for Tesla by encouraging federal safety regulators to step in at any sign of trouble for the robotaxis. Even before the war of words broke out on Thursday, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration requested data on how Musk's driverless, autonomous taxis will perform in low-visibility conditions. That request follows an investigation last year into 2.4 million Teslas equipped with full self-driving software after several accidents, including one that killed a pedestrian. A spokesman for NHTSA said the probe was ongoing and that the agency "will take any necessary actions to protect road safety.' The Department of Justice has also probed the safety of Tesla cars, but the status of that investigation is unclear. The DOJ did not respond immediately to requests for comment. The promise of a self-driving future led by Tesla inspired shareholders to boost the stock by 50% in the weeks after Musk confirmed the Austin rollout. But on Thursday, the stock plunged more than 14% amid the Trump-Musk standoff. On Friday, it recovered a bit, bouncing back nearly 4%. 'Tesla's recent rise was almost entirely driven by robotaxi enthusiasm," said Morningstar analyst Seth Goldstein. 'Elon's feud with Trump could be a negative.' One often-overlooked but important part of Tesla's business that could take a hit is its sales of carbon credits. As Musk and Trump were slugging it out Thursday, Republican senators inserted new language into Trump's budget bill that would eliminate fines for gas-powered cars that fall short of fuel economy standards. Tesla has a thriving side business selling 'regulatory credits' to other automakers to make up for their shortfalls. Musk has downplayed the importance of the credits business, but the changes would hurt Tesla as it reels from boycotts of its cars tied to Musk's time working for Trump. Credit sales jumped by a third to $595 million in the first three months of the year even as total revenue slumped. Musk's foray into right-wing politics cost Tesla sales among the environmentally minded consumers who embraced electric cars and led to boycotts of Tesla showrooms. If Musk has indeed ended his close association with Trump, those buyers could come back, but that's far from certain. Meanwhile, one analyst speculated earlier this year that Trump voters in so-called red counties could buy Teslas 'in a meaningful way.' But he's now less hopeful. 'There are more questions than answers following Thursday developments,' TD Cowen's Itay Michaeli wrote in his latest report, 'and it's still too early to determine any lasting impacts.' Michaeli's stock target for Tesla earlier this year was $388. He has since lowered it to $330. Tesla was trading Friday at $300. Tesla did not respond to requests for comment. Trump said Thursday that he could cut government contracts to Musk's rocket company, SpaceX, a massive threat to a company that has received billions of federal dollars. The privately held company that is reportedly worth $350 billion provides launches, sends astronauts into space for NASA and has a contract to send a team from the space agency to the moon next year. But if Musk has a lot to lose, so does the U.S. SpaceX is the only U.S. company capable of transporting crews to and from the space station, using its four-person Dragon capsules. The other alternative is politically dicey: depending wholly on Russia's Soyuz capsules. Musk knew all this when he shot back at Trump that SpaceX would begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft. But it is unclear how serious his threat was. Several hours later — in a reply to another X user — he said he wouldn't do it. A subsidiary of SpaceX, the satellite internet company Starlink, appears to also have benefited from Musk's once-close relationship with the president. Musk announced that Saudi Arabia had approved Starlink for some services during a trip with Trump in the Middle East last month. The company has also won a string of other recent deals in Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and elsewhere as Trump has threatened tariffs. It's not clear how much politics played a role, and how much is pure business. On Friday, The Associated Press confirmed that India had approved a key license to Starlink. At least 40% of India's more than 1.4 billion people have no access to the internet. Big advertisers that fled X after Musk welcomed all manner of conspiracy theories to the social media platform have started to trickle back in recent months, possibly out of fear of a conservative backlash. Musk has called their decision to leave an 'illegal boycott' and sued them, and the Trump administration recently weighed in with a Federal Trade Commission probe into possible coordination among them. Now advertisers may have to worry about a different danger. If Trump sours on X, "there's a risk that it could again become politically radioactive for major brands,' said Sarah Kreps, a political scientist at Cornell University. She added, though, that an 'exodus isn't obvious, and it would depend heavily on how the conflict escalates, how long it lasts and how it ends.'
Yahoo
14 minutes ago
- Yahoo
HubSpot, Inc. (HUBS): A Bull Case Theory
We came across a bullish thesis on HubSpot, Inc. (HUBS) on Compouding Your Wealth's Substack. In this article, we will summarize the bulls' thesis on HUBS. HubSpot, Inc. (HUBS)'s share was trading at $578.25 as of 29th May. HUBS's forward P/E was 61.73 according to Yahoo Finance. A person using a laptop with a blue background showing the software platform's user inteface. HubSpot reported strong financial results for Q1 2025, with revenue reaching $714.1 million, a 15.7% increase year-over-year and 20.8% quarter-over-quarter growth, surpassing estimates by 2.3%. Subscription revenue, which makes up nearly 98% of total revenue, grew by the same rate, highlighting continued customer demand for its core offerings. While gross margin declined slightly by 0.7 percentage points to 83.9%, and operating margin dropped by 0.9 points to 14%, free cash flow margin improved modestly to 17.1%. Net margin was negative 3.1%, reflecting a 4-point decrease from the prior year, largely influenced by non-GAAP adjustments and timing of certain expenses. Earnings per share of $1.78 exceeded expectations by 1.7%. Key metrics such as deferred revenue and remaining performance obligations showed significant growth, up nearly 20% and 37% respectively, underscoring strong future revenue visibility. Billings rose by 19.6%, though average revenue per customer declined slightly by 3.6%, signaling some pressure on pricing or customer mix. Customer count increased by 19.1% to over 258,000. On the operational side, sales and marketing efficiency improved with S&M expense as a percentage of revenue falling by 1.6 points, while R&D and G&A expenses rose modestly as a share of revenue. The company highlighted its rapid product innovation with over 200 new features released, particularly embedding AI across its platform and expanding enterprise capabilities. AI-powered tools like Customer Agent have driven measurable improvements in sales and support efficiency. HubSpot raised its full-year revenue guidance to approximately $3.04 billion, projecting continued growth fueled by a combination of seat expansion and consumption-based AI monetization, while maintaining a cautious view on macroeconomic uncertainty. For a comprehensive analysis of another standout stock covered by the same author, we recommend reading our summary of this bullish thesis on Shopify Inc. (SHOP). HubSpot, Inc. (HUBS) is not on our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 61 hedge fund portfolios held HUBS at the end of the first quarter which was 73 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of HUBS as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an extremely cheap AI stock that is also a major beneficiary of Trump tariffs and onshoring, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: 8 Best Wide Moat Stocks to Buy Now and 30 Most Important AI Stocks According to BlackRock. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
Yahoo
15 minutes ago
- Yahoo
US and Chinese officials will resume trade talks in London on Monday, Trump says
President Donald Trump announced Friday that US and Chinese officials will meet in London on Monday to discuss trade between the two nations. 'I am pleased to announce that Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, and United States Trade Representative, Ambassador Jamieson Greer, will be meeting in London on Monday, June 9, 2025, with Representatives of China, with reference to the Trade Deal,' the president wrote in a post on Truth Social. The announcement comes after Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping spoke for 90 minutes on Thursday. After the phone call, the US president said he was encouraged that ongoing trade tensions could soon be resolved. The last talks between the Trump administration and their Chinese counterparts, held on May 12 in Geneva, represented a major turning point for the global trade war. Delegates from China and the United States announced they would significantly roll back their historically high tariffs on one another. Markets rallied, Wall Street banks curtailed their recession forecasts, and moribund USconsumer confidence rebounded significantly. That marked a significant change from April, when tensions ran so high that trade between the United States and China came to an effective halt. The 145% tariffs on most Chinese imported goods made the math impossible for American businesses to buy virtually anything from China, America's second-largest trading partner. But since then, tensions had re-escalated. Trump on Wednesday said in a Truth Social post that Chinese leader Xi Jinping was 'extremely hard to make a deal with.' Trade talks have stalled, Bessent said, apparently frustrating Trump. Last week, Trump posted on social media that China 'TOTALLY VIOLATED ITS AGREEMENT WITH US.' Trump said that he made a 'fast deal' with China to 'save them from what I thought was going to be a very bad situation.' He added: 'So much for being Mr. NICE GUY!' The Trump administration had expected China to lift restrictions on rare earth materials that are critical components for a wide range of electronics, but China has largely refused, causing intense displeasure inside the Trump administration and prompting a recent series of measures to be imposed on the country three administration officials told CNN last week. For example, the White House warned US companies against using AI chips made by China's national tech champion Huawei. It stopped US companies from selling to China software that is used to design semiconductors. And the US State Department announced it would 'aggressively revoke visas' for some Chinese students in in turn, has accused the United States of 'provoking new economic and trade frictions.' 'The United States has been unilaterally provoking new economic and trade frictions, exacerbating the uncertainty and instability of bilateral economic and trade relations,' the Chinese Commerce Ministry said Sunday. In the meantime, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, America's chief negotiator in the détente with China, said talks with China had stalled. But Trump and and Chinese leader Xi Jinping held a long-awaited phone call Thursday, which appears to have lowered the temperature a bit. The New York Times on Friday reported China has issued some licenses for rare earths, although the market is hardly back open. The talks in the UK are significant, and much is riding on their success – US economic growth remains steady but there are signs of cracking. And no one wants to return to April's standoff, which threatened to plunge the global economy into a stocks, which had rallied earlier in the day on a strong jobs report, rose a bit higher after Trump's Truth Social message about the resumed talks. The Dow was up 450 points, or 1.1%. The S&P 500 rose 1.2%, and the Nasdaq was 1.3% higher.
