Morning Market Highlights
May 29, 2025
# | Headline | Summary |
1 | Stock futures trend higher | Last evening a federal trade court struck down President Trump’s “reciprocal tariffs”. They claimed the President exceeded his authority by unilaterally putting his tariffs in place and found the 1977 law Trump invoked did not actually give him the power to do so. Positive earnings from Nvidia and E.l.f. after close also helped lift stocks as futures on the Dow are up around 0.5%, S&P futures up 1.1% and Nasdaq futures climbing 1.6% |
2 | Elon leaves gov’t | In a message posted to X last night, Musk said that his time as a government employee is coming to an end and he thanked President Trump for “the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending”. As a special government employee, his tenure was limited to 130 days and with Elon and Trump butting heads over the new tax bill, a White House official said Musk hasn’t been a regular presence in recent weeks. |
3 | North Korea steals remote jobs in the U.S. | “Laptop farmers” have been popping up all across the U.S. as part of a scam to infiltrate American companies and earn money for North Korea. After getting a remote job, North Koreans coordinate with somebody in the U.S. via LinkedIn or Indeed to be the U.S. face for a company overseas. The FBI says the scam involves potentially thousands of North Korean workers and brings hundreds of millions in revenue to the country. The real issue is the NK workers are stealing identities of U.S. citizens to do this and leaving a tax liability for the person who’s identity they stole. |
4 | Best Buy cuts full year guidance | Best Buy missed quarterly earnings expectations this morning with comparable sales dropping 0.7%. For FY 2026, they now expect revenue of $41.1 - $41.9 billion, down from its previous estimate of $41.4 - $42.2 billion. CEO Corie Barry said the retailer is increasing some prices to cover tariff relates costs but using it as a last resort after other steps are taken to offset the higher costs. Best Buys quarterly net income declined 18% to $202 million which is down from previous year results of $246 million. Shares of BBY were down about 6% at market open and nearly 17% this year. |
5 | E.l.f Beauty acquisition of Hailey Biebers skincare brand | E.l.f announced plans yesterday to acquire Hailey Bieber’s brand Rhode in a deal worth up to $1 billion. This would be E.l.f’s largest acquisition ever and is comprised of $800 million in cash and stock with an additional $200 million payout based on Rhode’s performance over the next 3 years. E.l.f shares jumped 28% today shortly after market open after they announced this acquisition as well as beating quarterly result estimates. EPS was $0.78 vs the $0.72 expected and revenue came in at $333 million vs. $328 million expected. |