Slumping Oil Prices Reflect Intensifying Economic Worries
Oil prices continued to fall on Friday, extending Thursday's sharp drop. Brent crude, the international benchmark, traded at its lowest level in more than three years, below $65 a barrel, a fall of almost 8 percent.
Fears that President Trump's tariffs could slash global economic growth — and demand for oil as a result — were weighing on the market, analysts said.
China's announcement on Friday of 34 percent retaliatory tariffs against the United States has further stoked worries that demand for oil and other commodities could be throttled by the trade turmoil.
Thursday's surprise decision by a Saudi Arabia-led group of countries in the OPEC Plus cartel to accelerate planned production increases has added to the downward pressure. Essentially, the market is worried about a bearish mixture of tariffs weakening demand, compounded by growing pressure from oil-producing countries like Iraq and Kazakhstan to add to supplies.
In a note to clients, analysts at Morgan Stanley said that in a recession — which is a looming possibility — demand growth for oil 'typically falls at least to zero.'
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New York Post
18 minutes ago
- New York Post
The ultimate loser of Trump and Musk's bloody battle royale could be the nation
Godzilla vs King Kong. Ali vs Frazier. Yankees vs. Red Sox. Trump vs. Musk is bigger than all of them because — unlike the first match — this one is real. And unlike the other two, it has real-world consequences. The future of the republic — not to mention the future of Tesla, SpaceX and Musk's other cutting-edge tech companies — could be at stake, depending on how bad it all gets. Of course, with this pair, they could make up while this column is at the printer. Musk is known to do 180s in business like most people breathe, and he seems open (at least for now) to rapprochement. That's why, after tanking during early rounds of the fight, Tesla shares spiked on Friday. Trump, meanwhile, can be forgiving when he sees an opportunity. Remember how he mocked 'Little Marco,' who after a MAGA-esque transformation is now Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Trump wanted to ban TikTok but as I was first to report, he's extending its life in the US. He came to believe that even if it is Chinese spyware, it helped him win a second term. But there's a better case that the Trump-Musk feud will linger. These men maintain some of the biggest egos on the planet; Musk actually thinks he's the reason Trump got elected since Elon owns X (formerly Twitter), which became a MAGA megaphone. If you know Trump like I do, someone taking credit for his success is a third rail. Plus, Musk isn't a natural convert to MAGA. These dudes bonded because Musk, a former Democrat, believed his party lost its mind on woke. His EV maker Tesla, a darling of the environmental movement, has a big operation in China, the main target of Trump's trade war. Musk called Peter Navarro, Trump's lead trade warrior, 'Peter Retarrdo' because Elon's no fan of tariffs. For his part, Trump is no budget hawk. It's telling that this fight started with Musk's critique that the president's 'big, beautiful bill' spends too much money. It quickly exposed other fissures lurking beneath the surface, according to my sources, and now it has gotten messy. No way to treat a pal Trump is teeing up killing all of Musk's lucrative government contracting after Musk outrageously — and foolishly — claimed the president is holding back the Jeffrey Epstein files because Trump's in the docs in some nefarious way. Not a way to treat a friend, particularly a powerful one. All of which gets me to laying odds on the winner if this feud keeps going. I say Trump is the heavy favorite. Musk has no political base, even if he splinters and begins spending his billions on Dems. Yes, some lefties are relishing the battle, but Musk will never be acceptable to most Democrats for the unforgivable sin of aiding Trump, then via DOGE cutting all that government lefty spending. Charlie Gasparino has his finger on the pulse of where business, politics and finance meet Sign up to receive On The Money by Charlie Gasparino in your inbox every Thursday. Thanks for signing up! Enter your email address Please provide a valid email address. By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Never miss a story. Check out more newsletters Meanwhile, Musk poses little threat to MAGA. He's not a natural politician — he's not even comfortable in his own skin. He controls X and has a huge following, but Trump has his own following and social media platform that attracts as much media attention. And Trump can hit him where it hurts — his pocketbook. Musk is the world's richest man, but mostly on paper. It could diminish fast given how much of it is built on government work. Recall Musk smoking a joint on Joe Rogan, which is a no-no when you do defense contracting as SpaceX does. I reported how it sparked scrutiny by the feds that went nowhere. Maybe now it goes somewhere. Musk's accounting at Tesla has drawn regulatory attention in the past; it now might get some more. The company just had a lousy quarter as its lefty EV-buying base went somewhere else. Shares have recovered somewhat but remain under pressure. They fell as much as 16% when the feud went defcon. Trump could go after other parts of the Musk empire. The president could throttle SpaceX's government contracts, using the weed issue as an excuse to re-examine the relationship. Maybe more of those go by the wayside along with all his other government contracts. Musk is obviously miffed that Trump's tax bill didn't cut enough fat, but what might have really stoked his anger is that it did take aim at various green-tax credits that Tesla has feasted upon. Musk's recklessness in his attacks underscores one of his weaknesses as a CEO; he once said he had a buyer to take it private at a premium but no one emerged. And you wonder why the Epstein barb shouldn't be taken seriously. The smarter move Yes, Trump has a lot of levers to pull to get at what makes Musk so powerful. But here's why he shouldn't: For all of Musk's flaws, he's smart and has his finger on the pulse of the emerging economy. Tesla's tech is first-rate. SpaceX is transformational, and serves a significant national security function. Musk is rich and can continue to elect Republicans to keep Trump from being impeached and derailing what is really working in his second term, such as his war on woke, closing the border and, when this tariff stuff subsidies, tax cuts to grow the economy. And they did make beautiful music together exposing stuff with DOGE. Someone please call a timeout.
Los Angeles Times
28 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
2026 races loom at Georgia Republican convention as Trump loyalty dominates
DALTON, Ga. — Steve Bannon took the stage Friday night at the Georgia Republican Convention to say it's too early to be talking about 2026. 'Don't even think about the midterms,' the Republican strategist told activists. 'Not right now. '26, we'll think about it later. It's backing President Trump right now.' But it didn't work. There was plenty of praise for Donald Trump. And while the party took care of other business like electing officers and adopting a platform, the 2026 races for governor and Senate were already on the minds of many on Friday and Saturday in the northwest Georgia city of Dalton. 'Everybody campaigns as quick as they can,' U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene told The Associated Press Saturday. Lots of other people showed up sounding like candidates. Greene, after passing on a U.S. Senate bid against Democratic incumbent Jon Ossoff, laid out a slate of state-level issues on Saturday that will likely fuel speculation that she might run for governor to replace term-limited Republican Gov. Brian Kemp. Echoing Trump's signature slogan, Greene told the convention to 'Make Georgia great again, for Georgia.' She called for abolishing the state income tax, infusing 'classical' principles into Georgia's public schools, reopening mental hospitals to take mentally ill people off the streets, and changing Georgia's economic incentive policy to de-emphasize tax breaks for foreign companies and television and moviemakers. 'Now these are state-level issues, but I want you to be talking about them,' Greene said. In her AP interview before the speech, Greene said running for governor is an 'option,' but also said she has a 'wonderful blessing' of serving her northwest Georgia district and exercising influence in Washington. 'Pretty much every single primary poll shows that I am the top leader easily, and that gives me the ability to think about it. But it's a choice. It's my own, that I will talk about with my family.' More likely to run for governor is Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who is expected to announce a bid later this summer. 'I promise you, I'm going to be involved in this upcoming election cycle,' Jones told delegates Friday. Like Greene, Jones is among the Georgia Republicans closest to Trump, and emphasized that 'the circle is small' of prominent Republicans who stood by the president after the 2020 election. Jones also took a veiled shot at state Attorney General Chris Carr, who declared his bid for governor in December and showed up Friday to work the crowd, but did not deliver a speech to the convention. 'Always remember who showed up for you,' Jones said. 'And always remember who delivers on their promises.' Carr told the AP that he didn't speak because he was instead attending a campaign event at a restaurant in Dalton on Friday, emphasizing the importance of building personal relationships. Although Trump targeted him for defeat in the 2022 primary, Carr said he's confident that Republicans will support him, calling himself a 'proud Kemp Republican,' and saying he would focus on bread-and-butter issues. 'This state's been built on agriculture, manufacturing, trade, the military, public safety,' Carr said. 'These are the issues that Georgians care about.' The easiest applause line all weekend was pledging to help beat Ossoff. 'Jon Ossoff should not be in office at all,' said U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, who is spending heavily on television advertising to support his Senate run. 'Folks, President Trump needs backup, he needs backup in the Senate,' said state Insurance Commissioner John King, who is also running for the Senate. 'He's going to need a four-year majority to get the job done. And that starts right here in the state of Georgia.' Former University of Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley, who expressed interest Friday in running for Senate, did not address delegates. But one other potential candidate, U.S. Rep. Mike Collins, did. Collins told delegates that in 2026 it was a priority to defeat Ossoff and replace him with a 'solid conservative.' It's not clear, though, if Collins himself will run. 'We're going to see how this thing plays out,' Collins told the AP. 'I'm not burning to be a senator, but we've got to take this seat back.' Amy writes for the Associated Press.
CBS News
28 minutes ago
- CBS News
Trump threatens Musk with "serious consequences" if he donates to Democrats
President Trump threatened Elon Musk with "serious consequences" should he decide to fund Democrats in upcoming elections, the latest in the ongoing public spat between the world's richest man and the world's arguably most powerful one. Mr. Trump told NBC News' Kristen Welker in a phone interview on Saturday that he has no desire to rebuild his relationship with Musk after the billionaire criticized the budget bill passed by House lawmakers last month. When asked by Welker if his relationship with him was over, the president said, "I would assume so, yeah." "I'm too busy doing other things," Trump continued. "You know, I won an election in a landslide. I gave him a lot of breaks, long before this happened, I gave him breaks in my first administration, and saved his life in my first administration, I have no intention of speaking to him." The president also issued a warning amid chatter that Musk could back Democratic lawmakers and candidates in the 2026 midterm elections. "If he does, he'll have to pay the consequences for that," Trump told NBC, though he declined to share what those consequences would be. Musk's businesses have many lucrative federal contracts. The relationship between Mr. Trump and Musk broke down publicly last week, with the president threatening to cancel Musk's lucrative government contracts and Musk claiming that Mr. Trump could not have won the presidency without him. Musk, the world's richest person, had spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars to back Mr. Trump and other Republican candidates, CBS News previously reported. He had posted several jabs against the president on X over the past week, including saying that Mr. Trump should be impeached and replaced by Vice President JD Vance. Vance says Musk's attacks were a "huge mistake" Vance expressed his support for Mr. Trump, saying Musk was making a "huge mistake" going after Mr. Trump in a storm of bitter and inflammatory social media posts after a falling out between the two men. But the vice president, in an interview released Friday after the very public blow-up between the world's richest man and arguably the world's most powerful, also tried to downplay Musk's blistering attacks as an "emotional guy" who got frustrated. Musk attacked Mr. Trump in a torrent of social media posts, first criticizing the president's spending package and then targeting him with more direct attacks. Mr. Trump then portrayed Musk as disgruntled and "CRAZY" and threatened to cut the government contracts held by Musk's businesses. Trump ally Steve Bannon called for an investigation into Musk's immigration status and alleged drug use. During an interview with comedian Theo Von, Vance said he hopes that "eventually Elon comes back into the fold," but said it might not be "possible now because he's gone so nuclear." The interview was taped on Thursday as Musk's posts were unfurling on X, the social media network the billionaire owns. "Look, it happens to everybody," Vance said in the interview. "I've flown off the handle way worse than Elon Musk did in the last 24 hours." Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance attend a campaign event, Oct. 5, 2024, in Butler, Pa. Alex Brandon / AP The vice president told Von that as Musk for days was calling on social media for Congress to kill Mr. Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill," the president was "getting a little frustrated, feeling like some of the criticisms were unfair coming from Elon, but I think has been very restrained because the president doesn't think that he needs to be in a blood feud with Elon Musk." "I actually think if Elon chilled out a little bit, everything would be fine," he added. Vance's comments come as other Republicans in recent days have urged the two men to mend fences. Just weeks ago, Mr. Trump and Musk were close allies, spending significant time together while the billionaire served as a special advisor to the president and led the "Department of Government Efficiency," or DOGE. Vance called Musk an "incredible entrepreneur," and said that DOGE, which sought to cut government spending and laid off or pushed out thousands of workers, was "really good." Vance defends Trump against Epstein allegations Musk, who runs electric vehicle maker Tesla, internet company Starlink and rocket company SpaceX, also claimed without evidence that the government was concealing information about the president's association with infamous pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. During the interview, Von showed the vice president Musk's claim that the Trump administration hasn't released all the records related to sex abuser Epstein because Mr. Trump is mentioned in them. Vance responded to that, saying, "Absolutely not. Donald Trump didn't do anything wrong with Jeffrey Epstein." Mr. Trump's name has been found in court documents related to Epstein's case, but his appearance in the documents is not evidence of wrongdoing. CBS News has previously covered Mr. Trump's presence in those documents. In February, the Department of Justice gave a group of right-wing influencers binders labeled "The Epstein Files: Phase 1," but the influencers later said that there was little new information in the files. Attorney General Pam Bondi later shared the documents widely and said the first phase "largely contains documents that have been previously leaked but never released in a formal capacity by the U.S. Government." She said more documents would be forthcoming, but there have been no other releases since. Musk appeared by Saturday morning to have deleted his posts about Epstein. "The president is doing a good job" Musk also shared a post calling for Mr. Trump to be impeached and replaced with Vance. He also called for the formation of a new political party. The vice president said comments like those were "just not helpful." "It's totally insane. The president is doing a good job," Vance told Von. The vice president also defended the bill that has drawn Musk's ire, and said its central goal was not to cut spending but to extend the 2017 tax cuts approved in Trump's first term. The bill would slash spending but also leave some 10.9 million more people without health insurance and spike deficits by $2.4 trillion over the decade, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Musk has warned that the bill will increase the federal deficit and called it a "disgusting abomination." Elon Musk and Vice President JD Vance listen as President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally, Oct. 5, 2024, in Butler, Pa. Evan Vucci / AP "It's a good bill," Vance said. "It's not a perfect bill." Vance also said it was ridiculous for some House Republicans who voted for the bill but later found parts objectionable to claim they hadn't had time to read it. The vice president said the text of the bill had been available for weeks. "The idea that people haven't had an opportunity to actually read it is ridiculous," Vance said.
