Point72’s Cohen says Trump’s policies could halt markets’ rise this year [Reuters via MSN]
Trump has threatened to impose a universal tariff on foreign-imported goods and others aimed at specific sectors or countries, while on the immigration front he has launched a sweeping border crackdown.
Such measures would “actually slow growth, not increase growth in 2025” and make it more difficult for the Federal Reserve to tackle inflation, Cohen said at the investment conference iConnection, in Miami.
“I don’t think that’s a great backdrop. In 2025, I would expect the markets to top over the next couple of months,” Cohen said, adding that the peak may already have happened.
Frontier Airlines proposes merging with fellow budget carrier Spirit — again [CNBC]
“We continue to believe that under the current standalone plan, Spirit will emerge highly levered, losing money at the operating level, and this would not be a transaction we would pursue,” wrote Frontier Chairman Bill Franke and CEO Barry Biffle in a Tuesday email to Spirit Chairman Mac Gardner and CEO Ted Christie. “As a result, time is of the essence.”
Trump Media to Invest up to $250 Million in Financial-Services Venture With Charles Schwab [WSJ]
The operator of the social-media platform Truth Social is launching a financial services and technology brand Truth.Fi…. According to Trump Media, in addition to traditional investment vehicles, the company’s $250 million investment could be allocated to customized separately managed accounts, customized exchange-trade funds, bitcoin, other cryptocurrencies and crypto-related securities….
Trump Media also said an affiliate of Yorkville Advisors, an investment firm based in New Jersey, will serve as the registered investment adviser for certain investments and financial products that will focus on “American growth, manufacturing, and energy companies as well as investments that strengthen the Patriot Economy.”
Shadows of Musk in the Government’s Buyouts Plan [DealBook]
The Trump administration is offering payouts to millions of federal employees to resign, seemingly amid a “flood the zone” strategy of disrupting the government status quo. And there are signs that Musk, now Trump’s cost-cutter in chief, has had a big hand in how this is playing out…. The email bore a strong resemblance to what Musk did at Twitter in 2022, down to the “Fork in the Road” subject line.
Accused Short Seller Andrew Left Fights Back [II]
Left, who has been charged with fraud by the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission, is asking the SEC to come up with a rule that specifically details what trading is illegal — because right now there isn’t one…. Neither the SEC nor the DOJ accused Left of making false statements about the companies he wrote about. But they claimed covering his shorts or closing out his positions after publishing his views still misled investors.
GenAI Increasingly Powering Scams, Wall Street Watchdog Warns [WSJ]
Scammers are, for example, creating synthetic identification documents to help open fraudulent new brokerage accounts or take over customers’ existing accounts…. Finra said it has seen deepfake audio and video being used by swindlers to impersonate well-known finance gurus, as well as GenAI being used to create phishing emails tailored to individual targets.
