NEW YORK (Reuters) -President Donald Trump lashed out on Thursday against Elon Musk, saying he was “disappointed” by the billionaire’s public opposition to the sweeping tax-cut and spending bill that is at the heart of Trump’s agenda.
The president also asserted that Musk’s days of blistering attacks on the bill were motivated by the proposed elimination of consumer tax credits for electric vehicles. Musk, the CEO of electric vehicle maker Tesla, has said he opposes the bill because it will increase federal deficits.
Trump further suggested he may terminate U.S. government contracts and subsidies given to Elon Musk’s companies.
Tesla plunged nearly 12% at $292.58, while Trump Media and Technology Group Corp dropped 4.1% to $20.98.
COMMENTS:
BOB DOLL, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER AND CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER, CROSSMARK, PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY:
“It’s not very helpful, because Elon Musk has a big mouth, a lot of influence. Yeah, he’s going to embolden some of the Republican representatives that voted yes the first time to question it.”
JUAN PEREZ, DIRECTOR OF TRADING, MONEX USA, WASHINGTON:
“Where there is friction there can also be volatility. Musk and Trump both represent a rethink about global power dynamics with big companies catching up to what it can mean for less regulation accompanied with less oversight. Trump and Musk seem to agree on being very supply-driven in their actions, but as Musk has gotten a taste of government powerholding and delegating, his opinions may only get stronger and prove an affront to White House goals.”
“It seems now that the two parties clash when it comes to defining ‘efficiency’ and ultimately the EV-world that Musk has so much influence over is not being treated with soft gloves by a Congress that seems concentrated on items that may not appeal to big business as much as they anticipated. Stock enthusiasm in general domestically has gone down, but we shall see if Musk is able to have an influence as a guiding hand or play a role in countering the narrative that the U.S budget and mentality on spending does have to be so fundamentally changed.”
MARK SPIEGEL, PORTFOLIO MANAGER, STANPHYL CAPITAL, NEW YORK:
“I think the fallout for Tesla stock is self-evident! It’s down over 9% on the day, and down significantly in the previous several days as it became obvious that the relationship was fraying. Tesla will be lucky to earn $1/share this year and is thus fundamentally worth no more than around $10/share versus the current $300. Live by the ‘meme vibe,’ die by the ‘meme vibe’!”
“I see no meaningful fallout from this for the rest of the market, other than its slight effect on the indexes and index funds. The overall stock market has plenty of problems, but Tesla isn’t one of them.”
BILL STRAZZULLO, CHIEF MARKET STRATEGIST, BELL CURVE TRADING, BOSTON:
“People are saying Elon Musk is just trying to stand up for the American people and stuff like that. No! He’s trying to stand up for himself. You know there’s parts of this tax bill that don’t go over well with him like the elimination of the tax credits for the electronic vehicles and things like that. That to me is a big part of the reason why there’s a rift not because he’s trying to stand up for the American people…and I also think there’s a big embarrassment with DOGE. There are some reports out there that DOGE will probably cost more than money than saved. So that’s a big black eye for Musk and the rift is probably some sort of cover for that as well.”
(Reporting by Chibuike Oguh, Carolina Mandl, and Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss)
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