Musk Slams Cuts to EV Credits in Senate Trump Tax Bill
Elon Musk warned that the cuts to electric vehicle and other clean energy credits in the US Senate's latest version of President Donald Trump's multi-trillion dollar tax bill would be 'incredibly destructive' to the country. Jamie Nimmo reports on Bloomberg Television. (Source: Bloomberg)
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Forbes
4 minutes ago
- Forbes
Tariff Fears To Power Amazon Prime Day And Walmart, Target Competing Sales Events
CANADA - 2025/05/03: In this photo illustration, the Amazon Prime Day logo is seen displayed on a ... More smartphone screen. (Photo Illustration by Thomas Fuller/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images) Amazon is pulling out all the stops and capitalizing on consumers' tariff fears to make this year's July Prime Day event a smashing success. For the first time, Prime Day is being extended from two days to four – Tuesday, July 8, through Friday, July 11. It is also being held one week earlier than last year to coincide with President Trump's across-the-board tariffs that take effect on July 9. And Amazon is priming the pump with a slew of pre-Prime day deals. Not to be outdone, Walmart will hold competing Walmart Deals events starting on July 7 for Walmart+ members, then for everyone else on July 8 and extending through July 13. Target's Circle Week will run from July 6 through July 12 and Target Circle 360 members will get early access on July 5. And both retailers will offer the same savings to in-store and online customers, unlike Amazon, which is restricted to shopping online by Prime members who pay $139 per year for the privilege. While so-called 'Christmas in July' sales events are a retail tradition to spark sales during the dog days of summer from the Fourth of July through Labor Day, Amazon Prime Day, which was introduced on July 15, 2015 as a one-day event, has virtually replaced it and retailers far and wide have followed Amazon's lead. Economic Worries Provide Tailwinds This year, with consumer confidence falling – The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index dropped 5.4 points in June after rising in May – and worries rising about the impact of tariffs on prices and product availability later in the year, retailers' July promotional events should unleash a wave of spending for back-to-school, college and even early fall and winter holiday spending. That will be good news for retailers, which saw back-to-school spending drop 5% last year – from $41 billion in 2023 to $39 billion in 2024 – and back-to-college off 7% – from $94 billion to $87 billion – according to the National Retail Federation. The NRF has yet to release BTS projections for 2025, though the trend in recent years is toward shopping earlier in the season for the best deals. By early July last year, some 55% of shoppers had begun BTS and BTC shopping. 'Consumers will be looking to economize as much as possible this BTS season and will be very budget conscious when making purchasing decisions,' shared Revionics' global pricing expert Matt Pavich. 'As with all holidays, promotions play a major role in whether or not a retailer will be successful. This is even more true at a time when consumers are increasingly worried about their own personal finances and the direction of the economy,' he continued. Amazon Pitches For Young Adult Members Besides doubling the time Amazon Prime members can take advantage of this year's deals, Amazon is making a push to bring young adults aged 18 to 24 years onto the platform. Capital One estimates there are about 180.1 million U.S. Prime members, reaching some 53% of adult Americans. However, Prime membership penetration is lowest (only 5%) among shoppers born after 1997. These are the shoppers Amazon is targeting with a new Prime for Young Adults program. Young adults ages 18 to 24 can sign up for a free six-month trial membership that converts to a 50% discount off the regular Prime membership fee. Young adults will pay $7.49 per month or $69 per year. And for a limited time young adult members earn a 5% cash back bonus. Also new this year is a 'Today's Big Deals' feature spotlighting the day's top discounts and new deals will drop as often as every five minutes during prime-time periods over the four-day sales event. In addition, Amazon Prime members will get real-world fuel savings through participating BP, Amoco and ampm dealers. Prime members save $1 per gallon on a fuel purchase up to 35 gallons during the Fourth of July weekend (July 3 to 6), and throughout the rest of the year, they get a $0.10 cents per gallon discount on purchases. Amazon third-party sellers, which account for more than 60% of Amazon retail sales, may be caught in the crosshairs as Amazon stretches Prime Day to four days. 'Small to midsized third-party sellers, already the hardest hit by tariffs, are having to make the tough choice of either reducing participation or raising rates,' observed Brett Rose, CEO of United National Consumer Supplies. Rose believes Amazon owned and private-label brands will take center stage as independent sellers pull back. 'Expect to see Amazon products like Echo, Fire, Amazon Basics and Amazon Essentials pushed aggressively throughout the event, where it already enjoys margin advantages and can better absorb cost pressures.' Walmart Deal Days Open In Store Like Amazon, Walmart is extending its July Deal Days from four to six days this year, but last year's and this year's start date is the same, July 8, unlike Amazon's which was moved up from July 16 last year. However, the big unlock for Walmart this year is opening Deal Days to both in-store and online shoppers, unlike last year when Deal Days were restricted to Walmart+ members, only a tiny fraction of the 255 million weekly Walmart shoppers. Anticipating a strong showing during the quarter, Walmart now expects second quarter revenues to be at the high-end or even exceed its previous 3.5% to 4.5% growth guidance. Target Holding The Line On Price Target Circle Week is happening about the same time as last year's and will extend over the same five days. And while the sale prices will be available to both in-store and online customers, they must be members of the free Target Circle loyalty program, which differs from its paid Target Circle 360 membership. Target Circle 360 members get additional benefits, like free two-day deliveries and opportunities for same-day delivery from local stores, for a $99 annual fee. Target's Circle Week event is leaning into back-to-school shopping heavily, offering college students and teachers a one-time 20% off storewide discount, as well as a 50% discount off one-year Target Circle 360 membership. Touting that 20 'must-have' supplies can be had for less than $20, it is offering these items for the same price as last year. It also is promoting over 1,000 essential back-to-school supplies priced under $5. Target is hoping that this year's Circle Week can help reverse the company's sales slump. It ended fiscal 2024 down nearly 1% and first quarter 2025 revenues were off 2.8%. However, both Walmart and Amazon have wind at their back, while Target's reputation is suffering. Biggest July Sales Event Ever Last year, American retailers across the board enjoyed a $14.2 billion uplift coinciding with Amazon's two-day Prime Day event. Emarketer estimated that brought in approximately 60% of total spending, spreading the remaining 40% across other retailers, like Walmart and Target. With Amazon Prime Day now extended to four days, it isn't inconceivable that this year's take could double that from last year. Amazon Prime Day continues to provide an across-the-board lift to retail. Core retail sales, excluding automobiles, gasoline stations and food services, grew a healthy 3.6% in 2024; however, in only four months out of the 12 did it experience an over 5% year-over-year increase – October (+5.9%), February (+5.6%), December (+5.2%) and July (+5.3%). With retail sales already exceeding last year's annual 3.6% uptick through May, a strong July bodes well for the remainder of the year, even as tariff's impact on retail prices and performance threatens. However, Axios' Madison Mills reports that Wall Street is already operating with a post-tariff outlook. 'The market is a forward-looking machine, and it's already priced in better-than-expected trade deals before they're signed.' She cites Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's economic agenda centered on tax, trade and deregulation policies and the passage of Trump's Big, Beautiful Bill as a catalyst for renewed economic confidence. 'If uncertainty wanes, maybe spending roars right back,' she wrote and quoted RSM US chief economist Joe Brusuelas saying 'It's summer silly season,' with fear-of-missing-out driving positive investor sentiment. The same FOMO motivation can be expected to drive consumers in droves to this July's sales events. Amazon, Walmart, Target and many others say 'Bring it on.'
CNN
4 minutes ago
- CNN
Senate kicks off marathon voting session on Trump's ‘big, beautiful bill'
The Senate has kicked off its marathon voting session on President Donald Trump's sweeping domestic policy bill after a weekend of negotiations and delays. As Senate Majority Leader John Thune went to the floor Monday morning, he told reporters that 'hopefully we'll know soon enough' if Republicans' have the votes to pass the bill. 'This may take a little while,' he noted. The vote-a-rama – an open-ended, hourslong series of votes on amendments, some political, some substantive – provides an opportunity for Republicans to make any eleventh-hour adjustments to the package and Democrats to push on GOP weak points in the bill and put their colleagues on the spot. Those politically tough votes are likely to provide fodder for campaign ads down the line. Trump's multitrillion-dollar bill would lower federal taxes and infuse more money into the Pentagon and border security agencies, while downsizing government safety-net programs including Medicaid. Democrats are expected to zero in on Medicaid and other safety-net programs as they message against the president's agenda. Monday's exercise in stamina comes after Senate Democrats employed a major delay tactic over the weekend that forced clerks to spend more than a dozen hours reading aloud the entire bill. Senators then debated the bill into the early hours Monday before adjourning and returning to the chamber at 9 a.m. ET to begin offering amendments. Lawmakers are up against an extremely tight timeline to pass the legislation. The president has demanded Congress deliver the bill to his desk by the Fourth of July, but the measure must still go back to the House if it passes the Senate. A number of Republicans are closely watching any changes made to Medicaid provisions in the bill. The Senate version of the megabill would leave 11.8 million more people without health insurance in 2034, according to a Congressional Budget Office analysis released over the weekend. That's more than the 10.9 million more people projected to be left uninsured by the House-passed version of the bill. Both chambers are calling for historic spending cuts to Medicaid, which provides coverage to more than 71 million low-income Americans, including children, senior citizens, people with disabilities and other adults. The package would also enact changes to the Affordable Care Act that are projected to reduce enrollment in the landmark health reform law that Trump and Republicans have long sought to dismantle. But the Senate version calls for even deeper cuts to the Medicaid, leading to the larger estimate. It would slash federal support for Medicaid by $930 billion over a decade, Sen. Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, said over the weekend, citing a CBO estimate. The House version is projected to reduce federal spending on the program by about $800 billion, according to the CBO. Both chambers would require certain able-bodied adults ages 19-64 to work to maintain their Medicaid benefits for the first time in the program's 60-year history. But the Senate version would impose the work requirement on parents of children ages 14 and older, while the House version would exempt parents of dependent children. The Senate version would also lower the cap on the taxes that states levy on health care providers to help fund the program and increase reimbursement rates for providers. However, that provision would apply only to the 40 states and the District of Columbia that have expanded Medicaid to low-income adults. The House bill would put a moratorium on the states' existing provider taxes. The first vote taken by senators Monday dealt with a procedural argument over the so-called current policy baseline and how to calculate the costs of the bill. While it may seem dry, Republicans' use of current policy baseline in their calculations will set a precedent allowing both parties to be much more generous when calculating costs of tax bills going forward. Trump and some GOP leaders, including Senate Finance Chairman Mike Crapo, pushed the alternative 'current policy baseline' scoring method, which seemingly greatly minimizes the deficit impact of the bill because it would not include the cost of extending the expiring 2017 tax provisions. The CBO, however, calculated the cost of the bill using its traditional scoring method, known as 'current law baseline,' which assumed the expiring provisions of the 2017 Trump tax cuts lapse as scheduled at the end of the year. It projected the Senate's bill would also cost far more than the House-approved bill, adding nearly $3.3 trillion to the deficit over a decade. The Senate version is costlier in large part because it contains bigger tax cuts, while shrinking some of the spending cuts and revenue raisers, said Marc Goldwein, senior policy director at the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a watchdog group. For instance, the Senate bill would make permanent three corporate tax breaks that were part of the 2017 law and would lessen the cuts to the food stamp program. 'They expand the giveaways and shrink the takeaways,' Goldwein told CNN. Using the current policy baseline, the Senate version would cost roughly $508 billion over the next decade, according to a separate CBO estimate released Saturday night.
Yahoo
5 minutes ago
- Yahoo
‘A strange calm' has settled over the markets as investors ignore the risks ahead
Despite significant macro risks ahead—including looming tariffs and weak consumer spending—markets remain buoyant, with the S&P 500 hitting a record high of 6,173.07 and futures rising further. Investors appear to be expecting either a tariff deadline extension or Federal Reserve rate cuts to support stocks. The S&P 500 set a new record on Friday and S&P futures are up 0.37% this morning. That's interesting because there are clear macroeconomic risks on the horizon, which investors seem to be ignoring—at least for now. The most obvious unpredictable variable is the looming tariff deadline. President Trump gave the U.S.'s various trading partners until July 9 to reach a deal with the White House, but the president admitted over the weekend that his administration has not managed to reach agreements with most countries. Instead, many of them will simply receive a letter setting a rate of at least 25%, he said. The effect of those tariffs is already starting to drag on the economy, according to Samuel Tombs and Oliver Allen of Pantheon Macroeconomics: 'The 0.3% fall in consumers' real spending in May and big downward revisions to earlier months mean spending likely rose at an annualized pace of only about 1½% in the first half this year, well below last year's 3% average. Moreover, the lack of momentum recently, looming tariff-driven price hikes, and an imminent deterioration in the labor market all suggest spending will slow further in Q3,' they wrote in a recent research note. Many investors seem to be expecting that in the event of bad news, either Trump will come to their rescue by extending the tariff deadline or the U.S. Federal Reserve will lower interest rates later in the year. Both scenarios would be good for stocks. 'As we step into the second half of the year, a strange calm has settled in,' Kevin Ford of Convera told clients this morning. 'Major fears have started to fade, and despite all the noise, equity markets are flirting with all-time highs (new ATH for the S&P500). That said, the horizon still looks hazy, and plenty of questions remain unanswered: What about tariffs? If there's one thing we've learned about this administration, it's that deadlines are more like guidelines. Case in point: the July 9 expiration of the 90-day reciprocal tariffs reprieve. Markets aren't holding their breath. Many expect the White House to kick the can down the road again, buying more time for ongoing negotiations with Europe, Japan, and South Korea.' The Fed might also deliver the interest rate cuts that Trump has demanded. 'The market will focus back on the macro narrative with the interplay between labour market data and Fed policy expectations and increasing attention paid to the potential early appointment of a new Fed Chair. The broad risk on sentiment is leaning on modest and temporary weak growth in 2H25, on the back of payback frontloading and tariffs. The underlying assumption is that the subsequent Fed easing will be enough to trigger a return to trend growth in early 2026,' JP Morgan's Fabio Bassi and his team wrote in a note seen by Fortune. Here's a snapshot of the action prior to the opening bell in New York: S&P 500 futures rose 0.37% this morning, premarket. The S&P 500 closed up 0.52% on Friday, hitting a new record high (6,173). U.K. and Europe markets were flat in early trading. Japan's Nikkei 225 was up 0.84%. The major China indexes were up this morning, as was South Korea, but Hong Kong and India were down. This story was originally featured on
