Reuters US Politics
NEW YORK (Reuters) -President Donald Trump threatened on Thursday to cut off government contracts with companies owned by billionaire Elon Musk, as the alliance between the world's most powerful man and its richest erupted into a rancorous public fight.
The feud, which exploded in spectacular fashion over the course of a few hours, pushed shares of electric vehicle maker Tesla down dramatically. The company, where Musk serves as chief executive officer, closed down 14.3% for the day and lost about $150 billion in value after Trump and Musk began their war of words.
Trump Media and Technology Group Corp ended down 8.04% to $20.12
The Nasdaq closed 0.8% lower to 19,298.448.
COMMENTS:
JAMIE COX MANAGING PARTNER, HARRIS FINANCIAL GROUP, RICHMOND VIRGINIA:
"Billionaire spats rarely have any lasting impacts on markets, but this fallout was more than predictable. At some point, there was bound to be some divergence in priorities that led to a split between Trump and Musk."
ANALYSTS FROM WEDBUSH (RESEARCH NOTE)
"Tesla's stock is under major pressure...as investors fear that this Musk/Trump battle will stop their friendship and change the regulatory environment for Tesla on the autonomous front over the coming years under the Trump Administration. The quickly deteriorating friendship and now 'major beef' between Musk and Trump is jaw dropping and a shock to the market and putting major fear for Tesla investors on what is ahead. This situation between Musk and Trump could start to settle down and the friendship continues but this must start to be calmed down on the Musk and Trump fronts and it's not good for either side.
"This feud does not change our bullish view of Tesla and the autonomous view but clearly does put a fly in the ointment of the Trump regulatory framework going forward. It's another Twilight Zone moment in this Musk/Trump relationship which now is quickly moving downhill."
MARK MALEK, CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER, SIEBERT FINANCIAL, NEW YORK:
"The market is watching what is happening between these two very volatile personalities. I don't think that people are suddenly worried about the deficit, but rather that the Senate will skinny down this 'big beautiful' bill. They're worried that we won't see the stimulus that everyone has been awaiting and expecting, after all, if people listen to what Elon says. And it's odd that someone like Elon is being seen as a motivating force for people to stand up and say they care about the deficit, suddenly."
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, Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss, Suzanne McGee, and Saeed Azhar)
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