The Rundown - The FTC Sues Uber, Tesla Set to Deliver Critical Earnings Update

Episode Date: April 22, 2025

Stock market update for April 22, 2025.

Public.com presents the rundown, your daily market update in five minutes. My name is Zadmani, and today is Tuesday, April 22nd. In today's episode, we tell you why the beef between Donald Trump and Jerome Powell is sending the markets lower. We also preview Tesla's earnings and explain why the FTC is suing Uber again. Then stick around to the end of the show to find out how much money being polite to chat GPT is cost. Open AI. We get a great show for you today. Let's go. Well, we had a brutal start to the week. Stocks sold off across the board with the S&P 500 and NASDAQ, both dropping about 2.5%. And pretty much every stock was impacted. Only 40 stocks in the S&P were in the green on Monday.

Turns out the stock market didn't like President Trump taking a shot at Fed Chair Jerome Powell. We talked about it a bit on yesterday's show. President Trump continued to put pressure on Jerome Powell to lower interest rates. He called Jerome Powell a major loser and Mr. Too Late, which might be the nicest nickname he's ever given to someone. Trump has even threatened to fire Jerome Powell, which might not be legal. He's too late, always too late. A little slow. If I want him out, he'll be out of there real fast, believe me. So yeah, all of this is freaking out investors because the Federal Reserve's independence is kind of a big deal. Trump wants Jerome Powell to lower interest rates has helped soften the blow from the market sell-off. But if he tries to fire Jerome Powell

just because rates aren't where he wants them, that could seriously rattle investor confidence in the U.S. markets. I mean, confidence is already on thin ice thanks to the ongoing tariff roller coaster. So between the political drama and the policy whiplash, investors are starting to wonder if the U.S. is still a safe place to park money. That's what's causing the stock market to sell off. That's what's causing the U.S. dollar to continue to sell off. It's at multi-year lows right now. which means that trip to Europe this summer got a bit more expensive. Oh, and gold keeps making record highs.

Yesterday, it was at $3,400. Today, it's now trading at $3,500 an ounce for the first time ever. I mean, if gold keeps moving like this, my mom is going to outperform every hedge fund in the world this year. Now, going back to the Fed, the next Fed meeting is in about two weeks, on May 7th, and according to the CME Fed Watch Tool, there is an 88% chance the Fed keeps interest rates the same. The market doesn't think that Jerome Powell will cave to Trump's demands, and cut rates. So I am really looking forward to the next Fed meeting, especially Jerome Powell's press conference, because he's going to be asked so many questions about what's going on right now.

I mean, he's already said in previous meetings that he would not resign if Trump asked him to. So the drama keeps heating up. So we're going to be covering that in a couple weeks. And we also have a ton of earnings to look forward to as well. So we are locked in for the next few weeks as we get into the thick of earnings season and digest all the tariff drama and the beef between Donald Trump and Jerome Powell. It's getting fun out there. Let's run through some headlines. Another big tech company is getting sued. This time, it's Uber.

The Federal Trade Commission, the FTC, is suing Uber because of deceptive billing and cancellation practices tied to their Uber 1 subscription service. According to the FTC, Uber was charging people for Uber 1 without proper consent and they made it nearly impossible to cancel the subscription. Maybe Uber should start a gym or something. The regulator also said that Uber 1 failed to deliver the promise savings. Uber falsely claimed users would save $25 a month by signing up for Uber 1, which is $10 a month. But they didn't bacon the cost of the subscription service into the savings calculation, which is pretty misleading. Now, Uber is denying the claims.

They say their processes follow the law, and most people can cancel Uber 1 in 20 seconds or less. But regardless, this is now headed to court, and we'll see what the judges have to say about this. And this isn't the first clash between the FTC and Uber. During Trump's first term, the FTC sued Uber accusing the company of mishandling data and exaggerating potential earnings to drivers. That case was eventually settled with a $20 million settlement. But just zooming out, I mean, this lawsuit is another sign that the FTC under Trump won't be taking it easy on big tech. And despite the millions of dollars in contributions made to Trump's inauguration fund by big tech CEOs,

I think many of those tech executives thought that was their ticket for no lawsuits and lower regulation. That hasn't been the case so far under President Trump's first 100 days in office. By the way, Uber stock, unlike other big tech stocks, has had a pretty solid year so far. It's a 15% year to date. That kind of caught me by surprise, to be honest. Now, shifting gears a bit, let's talk about Tesla. They are not having a great year. And they're scheduled to report earnings today after the market closes.

And it might be the most consequential earnings report in Tesla's history. Given everything that Tesla has been dealing with so far recently, Tesla stock has lost more than 40% of its value so far this year because of declining demand, tariff uncertainty, politically charged protests. So investors are going to be paying close attention to this report to see how the company is doing and also for updates on everything from when Tesla is expected to launch their cheaper model vehicles to how long Elon Musk plans to stay involved with Doche. As for the numbers, Wall Street is expecting revenues to come in flat. Tesla sales have come under pressure in some key markets like China and California. Investors are going to be looking for some clarity on when to expect cheaper variations of cars like the Model Y, so that help jumpstart the sales growth. Reuters reported last week that the cheaper variant of the Model Y is being delayed by a few months.

And I think most importantly, investors are going to want to hear some progress and positive news related to Tesla's self-driving cars. Tesla is supposed to launch their Robotaxy in Austin, Texas, sometime this summer. So we'll have to see if that's still on track. But I got to say, I think investors are going to be less receptive to Elon's normal hyperbolic projections that he gives about autonomous vehicles and robots because of how poorly the stock has been doing over the last few weeks. I think investors want to see realistic timelines and growth.

So big, big report for Tesla coming out tonight. A lot for us to unpack. We're going to break it all down for you guys here on the rundown tomorrow. Let's talk about some stocks. making moves today. Shares of Lockheed Martin are up this morning after the defense company beat earnings and held onto its full year guidance. Lockheed makes a ton of defense weaponry, including missiles and fighter jets, which are experiencing a strong demand right now. One of the company's key products is the F-45 fighter jet. I guess the company isn't too

worried about tariffs if they kept their guidance intact. As a result, shares of Lockheed are up north of 3% this morning in reaction to the earnings. On the flip side, shares of Kimberly Clark are down this morning after the company behind brands like Kleenex and Huggies cut its full year outlook due to pressures from tariffs. Less than half of its suppliers are in the U.S., with manufacturers operating across more than 30 countries, according to Bloomberg. Kimberly Clark says the current economic environment will drive costs up across its global supply chain, which is going to have an impact on its profitability. Shares of Kimberly Clark are down more than 3% this morning in reaction to this news. Let's wrap the show with a fun fact. Saying please and thank you to chat GPT

is costing open AI tens of millions of dollars in electricity expenses, according to CEO Sam Altman. Altman shared that information in a reply on X to a user who questioned the financial impact of being polite towards AI. You know, it's not a secret that these AI models require a ton of electricity to process each query. Honestly, though, I'm not taking any chances.

I'm going to be polite every single time. because you never know. In fact, a recent survey by the media publisher of Future found that 70% of people admit to being polite to AI and 12% say they are polite just in case of a robot uprising.

Well, all right, guys, that's the rundown for today. Hope you guys enjoyed today's episode. If you did and you have like 12 extra seconds, consider giving us a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify. And if you're listening on Spotify, don't forget to vote in today's Spotify poll.

leave us a comment on Spotify. Let us know if you guys are polite to your AI and what earnings you guys are looking forward to the most. You know, all that engagement really does help us out and it helps other people find the show. Thank you guys so much for listening. Shout out to Mike and Connor for all the help behind the scenes

and we'll see you guys back here tomorrow. This is the rundown, your real-time resource for news events and trends in the markets. All views presented in the show reflect the opinions of the guests. You should not take any mention of a publicly traded security as recommendation to buy, sell or hold that security. Run-down guests are not financial advisors and are not affiliated with public holdings or its subsidiaries.

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