Good morning! Hell of a 24-hour news cycle we just saw. This edition covers what you need to know to sound smart at the water cooler today.

Buckle up.

Bad breakup hits TSLA shareholders

Anyone who’s owned Tesla stock is intimately familiar with both volatility and Elon Musk.

There’s a case to make that they are one in the same.

Thursday gave us the latest reminder of this as he and his President Trump swapped escalating barbs online, loudly closing their chapter as allies.

Tesla saw $145 billion in market value evaporated, marking shareholders’ third-worst trading day of the last decade:

Tesla stock closed Thursday down 25% year-to-date. It now hovers below the $1 trillion valuation benchmark.

“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,” said Wedbush’s Dan Ives.

“It's another Twilight Zone moment in this Musk/Trump relationship which now is quickly moving downhill.”

A one-day timeline of conversation

Below is a series of direct quotes from Musk and Trump’s public comments and social media posts from Thursday morning to evening, published in chronological order to illustrate the backdrop to Tesla’s rocky trading day.

Donald J. Trump: “Elon knew the inner workings of this bill better than almost anybody sitting here. Better than you people. He knew everything about it. He had no problem with it. All of a sudden he had a problem, and he only developed the problem when he found out that we're going to have to cut the EV mandate, because that's billions and billions of dollars.” [12:15 PM]

EM: “Whatever. Keep the EV/solar incentive cuts in the bill, even though no oil & gas subsidies are touched (very unfair!!), but ditch the MOUNTAIN of DISGUSTING PORK in the bill.” [12:19 PM]

EM: “This bill was never shown to me even once and was passed in the dead of night so fast that almost no one in Congress could even read it!” [12:25 PM]

EM: “Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate. Such ingratitude.” [12:46 PM]

DJT: “Elon was “wearing thin,” I asked him to leave, I took away his EV Mandate that forced everyone to buy Electric Cars that nobody else wanted (that he knew for months I was going to do!), and he just went CRAZY!” [2:37 PM]

DJT: “The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts. I was always surprised that Biden didn’t do it!” [2:37 PM]

EM: “Time to drop the really big bomb: [Trump] is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!” [3:10 PM]

DJT: “I don’t mind Elon turning against me, but he should have done so months ago. This is one of the Greatest Bills ever presented to Congress. It’s a Record Cut in Expenses, $1.6 Trillion Dollars, and the Biggest Tax Cut ever given. If this Bill doesn’t pass, there will be a 68% Tax Increase, and things far worse than that. I didn’t create this mess, I’m just here to FIX IT…” [4:06 PM]

EM: “In light of the President’s statement about cancellation of my government contracts, SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately.” [4:09 PM]

EM: “The Trump tariffs will cause a recession in the second half of this year.” [4:26 PM]

EM: “If America goes broke, nothing else matters.” [9:23 PM]

Market snapshot

Elsewhere

📊 The May jobs report is due this morning. Economists forecast that employers added 125,000 jobs in the month, and unemployment rate held steady at 4.2%. Any slowdown in the labor market may only appear at the edges for now, but there are still signs that hiring is weakening. (Yahoo Finance)

🪙 Circle skyrocketed for its IPO. The stablecoin issuer surged as much as 235% on its trading debut, opening at $69 after being initially priced at $31. At one point, it hovered above $103 a share. (CNBC)

📉 Procter & Gamble will cut 7,000 jobs. The stock ticked lower Thursday after the company announced it would reduce its headcount over the next two years. The move would ax about 15% of its current non-manufacturing workforce, and it could extend further. (Barron’s)

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About me

📰 I’m Phil Rosen, co-founder and editor-in-chief of Opening Bell Daily. I’ve published books, lived on three continents, and won awards for my journalism, which has appeared in Business Insider, Fortune, Yahoo Finance, Bloomberg and Inc. Magazine.

I write our flagship newsletter to prepare you for each trading day — unpacking markets, economic data and Wall Street with analysis you won’t find anywhere else.

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