The year 2025 began with post-election optimism and expectations of a strong first quarter. Instead, markets were hit by the rise of low-cost AI initiatives from China, and its adverse impact on the U.S. Big Tech, Trump tariffs, sticky inflation, and persistently high interest rates. Stabilization in the market returned in the month of May after a tariff-led, turbulent April.Market euphoria started to solidify from midyear, thanks to easing trade tensions. There have been three Fed rate cuts this year, with ...

Core Viewpoint - The ongoing feud between President Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has created significant market volatility, unsettling investors and impacting Tesla's stock performance [1][4]. Government Support at Risk - Trump expressed disappointment in Musk, questioning his motives regarding the economic bill, and suggested potential revocation of federal subsidies and contracts benefiting Musk's companies, including Tesla and SpaceX [2][3]. - Musk responded by considering decommissioning SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft and endorsing Trump's impeachment, marking a shift from his previous supportive stance [3]. Market Reactions - The feud has added volatility to markets already facing global trade concerns and mixed economic data, leading to a downturn in investor sentiment [4]. - Tesla shares fell by 14.3% on June 5, 2025, amid the escalating conflict [6]. ETF Performance - Despite the political drama, certain exchange-traded funds (ETFs) showed gains on June 5: - T-REX 2X Inverse Tesla Daily Target ETF (TSLZ) increased by 30% - Tradr 2X Short TSLA Daily ETF (TSLQ) rose by 29.5% [6]. - Inverse leveraged ETFs related to cryptocurrency also saw gains, with Defiance Daily Target 2X Short SMCI ETF (SMCZ) and GraniteShares 1x Short COIN Daily ETF (CONI) both up by 12.4% [7]. Sector Highlights - Silver prices surged by 6.9%, driven by industrial demand and the AI boom, which is expected to further increase prices due to the metal's use in high-performance GPUs [8]. - South Korean stocks rose by 6.3%, primarily due to a 50.9% year-over-year increase in semiconductor exports, indicating strong global demand for memory chips [10]. - Leveraged semiconductor ETFs, such as GraniteShares 2x Long MU Daily ETF (MULL), gained 6.7% following Mizuho's raised price target on Micron (MU) stock, driven by growing sales of high-bandwidth memory for AI applications [11].