Tesla's German car sales continue to fall in June
Tesla's sales in Germany plunged 60% in June, with first-half 2025 figures down 58.2%, according to KBA. This contrasts with an 8.6% overall rise in EV registrations in June. Sales also fell across other European markets, while Chinese rival BYD saw a surge, highlighting growing competition and challenges for Tesla in Europe.
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Mint
42 minutes ago
- Mint
Stocks, dollar dip as Trump passes spending bill, trade deal deadline nears
LONDON -Stocks slipped on Friday as U.S. President Donald Trump got his signature tax cut bill over the line and attention turned to his July 9 deadline for countries to secure trade deals with the world's biggest economy. The dollar also fell against major currencies, with U.S. markets already shut for the holiday-shortened week, as traders considered the impact of Trump's sweeping spending bill that is expected to add an estimated $3.4 trillion to the national debt. The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 0.5%, with banks, mining-related stocks and retailers among the top laggards. U.S. S&P 500 futures edged down 0.6%, following a 0.8% overnight advance for the cash index to an all-time closing peak. Wall Street was closed on Friday for the Independence Day holiday. Trump said Washington would start sending letters to countries on Friday specifying what tariff rates they would face on exports to the United States, a clear shift from earlier pledges to strike scores of individual deals before a July 9 deadline when tariffs could rise sharply. Investors are "now just waiting for July 9", said Tony Sycamore, an analyst at IG, with the market's lack of optimism for trade deals responsible for some of the equity weakness in export-reliant Asia, particularly Japan and South Korea. At the same time, investors cheered a surprisingly robust U.S. jobs report on Thursday, sending all three of the main U.S. equity indexes climbing in a shortened session. "The U.S. economy is holding together better than most people expected, which suggests to me that markets can easily continue to do better ," Sycamore said. Following Thursday's close, the House narrowly approved Trump's signature, 869-page bill, which averts the near-term prospect of a U.S. government default but adds trillions to the national debt to fuel spending on border security and the military. TRADE THE KEY FOCUS IN ASIA Trump said he expected "a couple" more trade agreements, after announcing a deal with Vietnam on Wednesday to add to framework agreements with China and Britain as the only successes so far. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said earlier this week that a deal with India was close. However, progress on agreements with Japan and South Korea, once touted by the White House as likely to be among the earliest to be announced, appears to have broken down. The U.S. dollar index had its worst first half since 1973 as Trump's chaotic roll-out of sweeping tariffs heightened concerns about the U.S. economy and the safety of Treasuries, but had rallied 0.4% on Thursday before retracing some of those gains on Friday. As of 1430 GMT it was down 0.1% at 96.94. The euro added 0.2% to $1.1778, while sterling held steady at $1.3662 as British assets steadied following investor fright over the last two days at a tearful appearance by Finance Minister Rachel Reeves in parliament on Wednesday. The U.S. Treasury bond market was closed on Friday for the holiday, but 10-year yields rose 4.7 basis points to 4.34%, while the 2-year yield jumped 9.3 bps to 3.882%. Gold firmed 0.4% to $3,336 per ounce, on track for a weekly gain as investors again sought refuge in safe-haven assets due to concerns over the U.S.'s fiscal position and tariffs. Brent crude futures fell 57 cents to $68.23 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude dropped 66 cents to $66.34, as Iran reaffirmed its commitment to nuclear non-proliferation. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
Mint
an hour ago
- Mint
‘Notice the difference': Elon Musk claims major upgrade to Grok chatbot's question-answering abilities
Tech mogul Elon Musk has announced significant improvements to his artificial intelligence chatbot, Grok, as part of a wider strategy to challenge what he perceives as ideological bias in existing AI platforms. In a post shared on X on Friday, the tech billionaire stated, 'We have improved @Grok significantly. You should notice a difference when you ask Grok questions.' The update is the latest development in Musk's bid to position Grok, developed by his AI venture xAI, as a credible alternative to tools like OpenAI's ChatGPT. Last month, the Tesla CEO unveiled plans to retrain Grok using what he described as a 'cleaner and more accurate version of human knowledge'. This retraining effort forms the backbone of an ambitious initiative to revise and enhance the global knowledge base. Writing on X, Musk suggested that the next major release of the system, potentially named Grok 3.5 or Grok 4, will feature heightened cognitive abilities. 'We will use Grok 3.5 (maybe we should call it 4), which has advanced reasoning, to rewrite the entire corpus of human knowledge, adding missing information and deleting errors,' he stated. Central to Musk's vision is a pledge to build an AI that is free from what he calls the 'mind virus', a term he uses to describe ideological slant in current AI models. To that end, he is encouraging users to submit so-called 'divisive facts', claims that may be politically controversial but, in his view, reflect reality. xAI's Grok has positioned itself as a more unfiltered and open alternative to other chatbots, often adopting an edgier tone in responses. With this latest update, Musk is doubling down on his plans for a radically different model of AI, one that he argues is more truthful and less constrained by what he sees as prevailing cultural or institutional norms.
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Trump's 'big, beautiful bill': Why it's making China laugh
President Donald Trump gestures after speaking at a rallyin Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall) On July 4, while Americans celebrated their independence, China may be celebrating something else: the greatest gift Washington has handed it in decades. President Donald Trump's newly passed 'One Big Beautiful Bill'-a sprawling 869-page tax and spending law-does more than enshrine his second-term agenda. It delivers a devastating blow to America's renewable energy industry at the exact moment artificial intelligence is fueling a global electricity arms race. And it gives President Xi Jinping and China a clear runway to dominate that future. 'There has never been a more intimate connection between a nation's ability to generate huge amounts of electricity at affordable prices... and its economic and military might,' the New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman wrote this week. "The Chinese can't believe their luck." Why it matters Experts say this may be one of the most self-destructive energy policies in modern history. 'It gives handouts to industries of the past while severely damaging industries of the future,' Tesla CEO Elon Musk said. China, meanwhile, is doubling down on solar, wind, and battery power, preparing to lead the next economic era. Friedman warned in the New York Times: 'This dog's breakfast of a bill… is sure to put at risk billions of dollars of investments in renewable energy… and potentially kill the jobs of tens of thousands of US workers.' by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Giao dịch CFD với công nghệ và tốc độ tốt hơn IC Markets Đăng ký Undo The big picture Trump's bill quickly phases out tax credits for utility-scale wind and solar projects and cuts incentives for electric vehicle buyers years ahead of schedule. The bill adds intricate restrictions on battery tax credits that exclude companies tied to 'prohibited foreign entities' like China-ironically making the credits near-impossible to claim. The bill also kills the methane fee from the Inflation Reduction Act and delays permitting for key grid upgrades, all while locking in $4.5 trillion in tax cuts, $1.2 trillion in safety net reductions, and $350 billion in hardline immigration and military spending. Friedman summed it up sharply: 'In one fell swoop, this bill will make your home hotter, your air conditioning bill higher, your clean energy job scarcer, America's auto industry weaker and China happier.' Zoom in: Texas shows the stakes Texas has quietly become America's top clean power state. A Texas A&M report showed the state added 2,596 MW of solar, wind, and battery storage in just one quarter, overtaking California for the top spot. Texas grid expert Doug Lewin posted last week that the state added 10,000 megawatts of new power last year, mostly solar-plus-battery. 'Brownouts are down,' he said, 'and reliability is up.' But under Trump's bill, future projects will be more expensive, slower to build, and potentially ineligible for tax credits. That means higher costs for utilities-and for families. 'Now the electricity will cost consumers a lot more,' Lewin warned. What they're saying: Elon Musk: 'Utterly insane and destructive.' Nick Nigro, WSJ: 'The big-picture outlook for energy is we are going to be less competitive because of this law.' Ray Dalio : 'This will lead to unimaginable tax increases or a lot of printing and devaluing of money.' Thomas Friedman: 'China may have to make July 4 its own national holiday going forward: American Electricity Dependence Day.' Between the lines The bill's energy policies not only conflict with America's innovation trajectory-they also defy global trends. Saudi Arabia is building solar farms to power AI data centers. Even fossil-fuel giants are investing in green energy for strategic advantage. China is using a different playbook. In 2000, it produced 1,300 terawatt-hours of electricity. Now it generates over 10,000, while the US has only added 500 terawatt-hours in the same time. China's growth is increasingly coming from wind, solar, hydro, and battery projects-not coal. A Financial Times report from Shanghai described China's strategic evolution into an 'electrostate'-a nation powered by clean electricity and buffered against trade wars and geopolitical shocks, Friedman said in his NYT column. Debt dangers Beyond energy, the bill also obliterates fiscal sanity. Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates, warns that the legislation pushes America deeper into a debt spiral that could crash credit markets and destabilize the global economy. The bill's $4.5 trillion in tax cuts and defense spending will add another $3.4 trillion to the deficit by 2034, per the Congressional Budget Office. Government debt is now projected to hit 130% of GDP within a decade. That's worse than the US level after World War II. Dalio didn't mince words: 'Unless this path is soon rectified… big, painful disruptions will likely occur.' His concern? That interest payments will balloon to $2 trillion annually, forcing a mix of inflation, tax hikes, and spending cuts that gut the economy. The bill also adds $3.3 trillion to the deficit, with Ray Dalio warning it will erode investor confidence and increase financial instability. 'This path is unsustainable,' Dalio said. What's next Tariff trouble: Trump's steel and aluminum tariffs could drive up the cost and delay deployment of gas turbines and renewables even further. AI grid crunch: With AI data centers consuming vast amounts of electricity, grid expansion is urgent. But Trump's bill delays and obstructs transmission upgrades-slowing economic growth. Job losses: Research firm Energy Innovation projects the bill will increase wholesale electricity prices by 50% by 2035, raise household energy costs by $16 billion annually by 2030, and eliminate or prevent 830,000 renewable jobs. Trump calls it 'beautiful.' But to Beijing, it's miraculous. Friedman put it bluntly: 'There are only two political parties in the world today cheering the passage of this bill: Trump's Republican Party and the Chinese Communist Party.' Stay informed with the latest business news, updates on bank holidays and public holidays . AI Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now
