Even After Moody's, ‘US Is the US' for Sovereign Wealth Funds
I'm Chris Anstey, an economics editor in Boston. Today we're looking at discussion about the US as an investment destination on Day One of the Qatar Economic Forum. Send us feedback and tips to ecodaily@bloomberg.net. And if you aren't yet signed up to receive this newsletter, you can do so here.
As this newsletter noted on Monday, there was a whiff of a 'sell America' theme in financial markets when the trading week kicked off, in the wake of the reminder from Moody's Ratings that the trajectory for US debt is alarmingly steep.
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The Hill
2 hours ago
- The Hill
Musk could ‘tank Donald Trump's entire legislative agenda': Farah Griffin
Former White House aide and current political pundit Alyssa Farah Griffin said tech billionaire Elon Musk has the power to derail President Trump's domestic agenda with his threats to primary Republicans who support the 'big, beautiful' spending package. 'Elon Musk basically could tank Donald Trump's entire legislative agenda,' Farah Griffin, a co-host on ABC's 'The View' said Wednesday during the show. She described the dynamic at play in Congress, as Republican lawmakers find themselves facing dueling pressures from Musk to oppose the bill and from the White House, to support it. 'If Republicans decide, 'Oh, we don't want to get on the wrong side of Elon' — that is what Donald Trump is banking it all on — and that's kind of devastating for his administration,' Farah Griffin said. 'On the flip side, those Republicans, if you're in a House district, you're like, 'I'm afraid of Donald Trump,' but Elon Musk, because of the dark money system we live in, he can come in and primary you by just pouring millions and millions into your race,' the former Trump staffer continued. Musk's role as a special government employee and chief adviser of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) ended last week, as he departed Washington to refocus on Tesla and his other companies. He spent more than $250 million in the 2024 presidential election cycle working to get Republicans elected after endorsing Trump but said late last month that he plans to take a step back from political spending in the future. 'If I see a reason to do political spending in the future, I will do it,' he said during a discussion at the Qatar Economic Forum. 'I do not currently see a reason.' But amid his crusade this week against the GOP megabill, Musk suggested the sprawling legislation might be sufficient reason to get involved in the next campaign cycle. 'In November next year, we fire all politicians who betrayed the American people,' Musk posted on social platform X on Tuesday. Farah Griffin noted that the billionaire tech mogul spent millions on the Wisconsin Supreme Court race alone and just needs to 'peel off a handful of Republicans this cycle' to give Democrats control of the House.' 'The entire balance of power in the House of Representatives could stand on if Elon Musk actually follows through and primaries people who vote for the bill,' she said.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Turns Out, Elon Musk Isn't Leaving Trump's Side Just Yet
Elon Musk isn't done with the federal government after all. Days after the tech billionaire confirmed on X that his time as a special government employee had come to a close, the vice president revealed that the administration isn't ready to let Musk go. 'I think there's an effort by the media to sort of say the Elon era is over, and I think that's actually totally wrong,' JD Vance told Newsmax in an interview released late Thursday. 'Now, he has, obviously, a day job, and he's got to go back to his day job to run his companies, but the DOGE effort will continue, [and] Elon will continue to be an important adviser for both me and the president,' Vance continued. 'And most importantly, the job of making the government more efficient, of not wasting people's money, that has to continue. I think it's one of the most important mandates that we got from the American people, and we will keep on executing on that mandate.' And Donald Trump similarly appears to be trying to extend Musk's time in office. In a Truth Social post Thursday, the president announced that he would be holding a press conference with Musk the following day, calling him 'terrific.' 'This will be his last day, but not really, because he will, always, be with us, helping all the way,' Trump wrote. It's no secret that Musk had been a decidedly unpopular figure in the White House weeks before he refocused his attention on his struggling electric car brand. In the few short months that Musk ran DOGE, reports emerged that practically everyone in the White House hated him. He had stomped on the toes of Trump's Cabinet, failing to consult them before paring down federal agencies technically under their control. He got into a screaming match with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Earlier this week, Musk whined that DOGE had become a 'whipping boy' for the administration's failures. He interfered in a deal over an AI datacenter in the United Arab Emirates to try to get his company xAI a piece of the pie, and he told CBS that Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' was actually a bad idea. But there are plenty of reasons why Trump and co. might want to keep the world's richest man in their pocket. Musk was Trump's top financial backer in the 2024 election, spending at least $250 million in the final months of the president's campaign after Trump was shot in July. Musk had also promised to funnel funds toward other Republicans, declaring in the wake of the November election that his super PACs would 'play a significant role in primaries.' In the following months, Musk threatened to use his money to fund primary challengers to Republicans who opposed Trump's agenda and to go after Democrats, and that he would be preparing 'for the midterms and any intermediate elections, as well as looking at elections at the district attorney level.' The week after Trump returned from the Middle East trip, however, Musk announced at the Qatar Economic Forum that he had 'done enough' political spending. 'I think in terms of political spending, I'm going to do a lot less in the future,' Musk said. Sign in to access your portfolio
New York Times
a day ago
- New York Times
Germans Are Buying More Electric Cars, but Not Teslas
Tesla sales in Germany dropped in May for the fifth month in a row, as demand for the electric vehicle maker continued to slide across much of Europe, despite Elon Musk's efforts to turn his focus away from his U.S. government activities and back to his companies. Registrations of new Tesla cars in Germany, Europe's largest car market, dropped more than a third compared with the same month last year, data released from the country's Federal Motor Transport Authority, K.B.A., showed on Tuesday. Tesla sales in other European countries have also remained depressed, falling more than 67 percent in France and 29 percent in Spain in May. Only Norway stood out as an exception, with Tesla selling 2,600 cars in May, more than triple the number sold in the same month last year. Sales were led by deliveries of Tesla's newly revamped version of its most popular vehicle, the Model Y. In neighboring Sweden, Volkswagen sold nearly twice as many of its latest electric model, the ID.7, as the new Model Y from Tesla, whose overall sales in the country dropped 53 percent. Mr. Musk has tried to downplay the extent of Tesla's losses in Europe, telling Bloomberg News in an interview at the Qatar Economic Forum that although it was the region where the brand faces its greatest challenges, 'The European car market is quite weak.' But data from European markets does not support that claim. In Germany, sales of battery-powered cars grew nearly 45 percent in May, compared with the year prior. In Spain, overall sales of electric cars grew 72 percent, while Tesla sales slid 19 percent. In Germany, demand for BYD, Tesla's main E.V. rival, rose ninefold, the strongest showing of an electric vehicle producer from China. The company, which overtook Tesla as the world's top seller of electric cars earlier this year, has been making inroads in Europe, despite facing tariffs of 17 percent imposed by the European Union in 2024. Although Mr. Musk has left his role at the White House, Tesla sales have been affected by his foray into politics. In April, the company reported that its vehicle sales fell 13 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, as profit plunged to its lowest level in four years. The company has been hurt by protests against Mr. Musk's support for President Trump and several far-right parties in France, Germany and Italy.
