Trump vs Musk: Round Two

Trump vs Musk: Round Two

The world’s richest man has stepped up his social media spat with the world’s most powerful man. Elon Musk called the massive budget bill “insane”, writing on X that he would form a new political party and work to oust Congress members who voted for the bill. US President Donald Trump, for his part, wrote that Musk “may get more subsidy than any human in history”. “Perhaps we should have Doge take a good, hard, look at this?” he mused.

Tesla Spiral Widens in Europe

The electric vehicle (EV) maker [TSLA] is facing steep declines in European sales, with June vehicle registrations plunging 61.6% in Denmark and 64.4% in Sweden, Seeking Alpha noted. This continues a broader slump — Tesla’s Q1 sales in Europe were down 37% year-over-year, far underperforming overall EV market trends. EU-wide registrations in May also dropped 40.5% to 8,729 units. 

Monumental Cloud Deal 

Oracle [ORCL] shares hit a record high of $218.63 after announcing a $30bn cloud contract, the Financial Times reported, nearly triple the $10.3bn its data center unit earned in FY2025. The unnamed customer is widely speculated to be linked to OpenAI or SoftBank’s [SFTBY] $500bn Stargate project. The deal, set to generate revenue starting in 2028, marks a major boost for Oracle’s cloud ambitions. 

Three Stablecoin Stocks at the Forefront of the Boom 

On June 17, the Senate passed the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act, which looks to regulate stablecoin issuers in the US. In response, several key fintech players have begun to target a bigger slice of the growing stablecoin space. In this article, OPTO examines the investment case for Circle, Coinbase [COIN] and Fiserv [FI] and explores the role they play in the wider crypto environment.

Chipmaker Files for Bankruptcy; Stock Pops

Amid political scrutiny of Biden-era chip subsidies, Wolfspeed [WOLF] filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to implement a creditor-backed plan that slashes $4.6bn in debt — about 70% of its total — and cuts annual cash interest payments by 60%. Shares soared over 100% in early post-market trading on the news, Seeking Alphareported. Wolfspeed expects to emerge from bankruptcy by Q3 2025.

A National Crypto Bank?

Circle [CRCL] plans to launch a national trust bank called First National Digital Currency Bank, submitting an application to the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. If approved, the federally regulated institution would oversee the USDC Reserve and offer digital asset custody to institutional clients. Shares of Circle rose 2.25% post-market to $185.36 on the news.

Could this Be Another DeepSeek Moment?

Baidu [BIDU] is open-sourcing its Ernie artificial intelligence (AI) model, marking one of China’s boldest AI moves since DeepSeek, according to CNBC. While the rollout will be gradual, it could pressure Western rivals like OpenAI and Anthropic to rethink pricing and business models. Read OPTO’s recent deep dive into the highly competitive Chinese AI sector.