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Luke Kawa

Lithium Americas spikes on plans for the Department of Energy to take 5% stake in exchange for early access to financing and deferred debt service

Shares of Lithium Americas are up more than 30% as of 7:35 a.m. ET after the miner announced a nonbinding agreement for the US government to receive an equity position in the company, in exchange for providing accelerated funding of a loan and offering more favorable repayment terms.

The DOE would get a 5% equity stake in the company via warrants in exchange for advancing $435 million of its previously announced loan (now worth a total of $2.23 billion) to Lithium Americas this quarter, as well as deferring interest payments on $182 million of those funds for five years.

“There can be no assurances that definitive documentation memorializing the First Draw Terms will be completed on the terms currently contemplated or at all,” the Vancouver-based company cautioned in its press release.

The first draw of Lithium Americas’ loan from the DOE is slated to be used to advance its joint venture with General Motors, a mine being developed in northern Nevada. GM is also amending the terms of this joint venture to facilitate the sale of production it does not expect to purchase. The DOE will also receive a 5% nonvoting, nontransferable economic stake in this particular project, also via warrants.

This planned pact comes on the heels of separate deals earlier this year that saw the government receive an equity stake in MP Materials and Intel, which has helped spur massive gains in those stocks.

“This proposed stake is another example of the Trump Administration taking equity stakes with American companies to promote industries seen as critical to national security with the majority of lithium reserves coming from foreign adversaries, especially China with the Thacker Pass Facility Buildout seen as crucial to national security,” Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives wrote. “This is important as the Trump Administration is now looking far and wide (globally) for stakes in strategic companies, not just US names.”

As we’ve written, why follow the Fed when you can just follow the feds?

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SpaceX gets a wave of bullish ratings from Wall Street analysts

SpaceX received more than a dozen positive analyst calls on Tuesday — including from major Wall Street banks — as they initiate coverage on Elon Musk’s space and AI company.

SpaceX went public on June 12 at a $2.2 trillion valuation, the largest debut in history. While the company hasn’t yet posted a profit, it seems to have convinced Wall Street that it will get there and grow its valuation on the way.

Of the at least 17 analysts that gave a rating on Tuesday, all but one gave it a “buy” or “outperform” rating. MoffettNathanson was "neutral."

The ratings come as SpaceX joined the Nasdaq 100 index, a benchmark tech-heavy basket of companies that underpins millions of portfolios. The inclusion adds built-in demand for the stock from index funds and ETFs.

Still, SpaceX fell more than 5% on Tuesday amid a broader sell-off, and is currently effectively flat from its opening price of $150 a share.

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7/2/26
US job growth falls far short of estimates in June; unemployment rate unexpectedly dips to 4.2%

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Meta surges on report it’s starting a cloud business to sell excess AI compute

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Paige Oamek

Nike sinks to lowest level since 2014 after warning of “challenged” sales environment in Q4 report

Did Nike do it?

Investors had a mixed reaction after the global sports apparel company reported its fourth quarter earnings on Tuesday after the bell. Shares initially rose 5% as Nike beat out Wall Street expectations amid a hefty tariff refund bonus. However, the stock then sank to its lowest level since August 2014 in postmarket trading.

Here are the Q4 numbers:

  • Revenue of $11.0 billion (estimate: $10.8 billion).

  • Adjusted earnings per share of $0.20 (estimate: $0.12).

Ahead of this report, Nike warned that results would be flattered by a one-time tariff refund (now estimated at roughly $0.52 per share for the bottom line). That gave the company an extra cushion in snapping its streak of seven quarters of year-over-year profit declines.

Over the past year, the company had been punished by tariffs on imported goods, stagnant consumer spending, and increasing competition from other footwear brands like New Balance, Adidas, and Hoka.

Outgoing CFO Matthew Friend deemed it an “increasingly challenging operating environment, where sell-through remains challenged.”

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