Top Midday Stories: Powell Blames Tariffs for Rate Pause; Tesla Shares Fall on Trump-Musk Feud

11:43 AM EDT, 07/01/2025 (MT Newswires) -- The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite fell in late morning trading, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose as investors assessed remarks by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

Powell said President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs prompted the Fed to hold off on cutting interest rates this year. While inflation has remained relatively stable, the Fed expects "to see over the summer some higher readings, but we're prepared to learn that it can be higher or lower or later or sooner than we expected," Powell said.

In company news, Tesla (TSLA) shares fell after the feud between Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk and Trump reignited. In a Truth Social post, Trump accused Musk of receiving "more subsidy than any human being in history," adding that the Department of Government Efficiency should "take a good, hard look at this? BIG MONEY TO BE SAVED!!!" Separately, Musk has taken over supervision of Tesla sales in the US and Europe, while Tom Zhu will oversee Asia, following the departure of Omead Afshar, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Tesla shares fell 5.3% in recent trading.

Ford Motor (F) reported Q2 sales of 612,095 vehicles, up 14% from a year earlier. The company said its market share rose to 14.3%, up 1.8 percentage points from the previous quarter. Ford shares rose 3.2%.

AstraZeneca (AZN) Chief Executive Officer Pascal Soriot has spoken privately on a number of occasions ablout his preference to move the company's stock market listing to the US, The Times reported, citing multiple sources. The CEO has also discussed moving the company's domicile, according to the report. The drugmaker currently trades in the US through American depositary receipts. AstraZeneca (AZN) shares rose 2.5%.

Novo Nordisk (NVO) executives ignored internal warnings that the company was not fully prepared to launch its weight-loss drug Wegovy in the US, Reuters reported Tuesday, citing six former employees. Novo Nordisk (NVO) shares rose 1.5%.

AMC Entertainment (AMC) signed an agreement with key creditor groups to raise $223 million to refinance its debt maturing next year. AMC shares fell 6.9%.

Wolfspeed (WOLF) said late Monday it has taken the next step to implement its restructuring support agreement with key lenders, including holders of over 97% of its senior secured notes. The step will enable the company to reduce its total debt by about 70%, or roughly $4.6 billion, and lower its annual cash interest payments by around 60. Shares of the company doubled.

Investigators are looking at technical failure as a factor in the recent crash of a Boeing (BA) 787-8 Dreamliner operated by Air India in Ahmedabad, India, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Boeing (BA) shares fell 0.4%.

Rocket (RKT) completed its acquisition of Redfin (RDFN). Rocket shares rose 1%.

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