- In today’s CEO Daily: Diane Brady talks to CEOs on Coins2Day’s 100 Best Companies to Work For list about how they’re navigating all this drama.
- The big story: Trump’s trade war with China begins — and Apple, Tesla, and US stocks are the first major casualties.
- The markets: Messy and bad.
- Analyst notes from EY on the Fed, Wedbush on China and Apple, and Oxford Economics on the job numbers.
- Plus: All the news and watercooler chat from Coins2Day.
Good morning. How do you take care of employees in a climate that is chaotic, emotions are running high, and the landscape is impossible to predict? I was particularly eager to hear this firsthand from CEOs whose companies appeared on Coins2Day’s latest 100 Best Companies to Work For list. Every year, in partnership with the Great Place to Work Institute, now a part of UKG, we survey hundreds of thousands of employees. Only those companies that excel according to their own employees make the list. Yesterday in Las Vegas at the Great Place to Work For All Summit, I got to interview some of the list’s all-stars about their priorities. The highlights:
Stay Calm. Marriott International CEO Anthony Capuano had come in from Washington, where a lot of CEOs are spending time these days. Unlike Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian, who warned the tariff war is hurting bookings, Capuano is not seeing a significant impact at the world’s largest hospitality company. He notes that global travel demand is strong and most properties are locally owned. When it comes to investing, Edward Jones Managing Partner Penny Pennington said, “the four most dangerous words are ‘this time is different.’” She’s seen how panic can lead to bad decisions.
Be Authentic. The way to promote shared values is to live them, whether it’s Pennington talking about dealing with cancer or World Wide Technology CEO Jim Kavanaugh talking to employees about what it takes to win. Capuano, a Marriott veteran, travels the world to listen and learn from employees on the ground. They prioritize wellbeing. As DHL Express CEO John Pearson said in another panel: “If people leave work more unhappy than when they arrive, they take it out on the people at home as they go through the front door, and that’s not going to happen on my watch.”
Show how AI can help your people. Pennington sees AI as a way to “humanize the extraordinary by automating the ordinary.” Capuano said AI was enabling staff to have more impactful interactions with customers. And Kavanaugh gave examples of extraordinary productivity gains, saying those who delay AI plans amid uncertainty may fall too far behind to catch up.
We also had a lunch for CEO Initiative members and listers where our discussions were under the Chatham House Rule, so I’ll just share some general takeaways from that. Most notable for me were leaders’ reflections on how polarization is impacting the workplace in terms of engagement, collaboration, customer interactions and even employee safety. Some are spending more time on global outreach as politics impacts how employees and customers view their brand. But what unites leaders on the list, according to Great Place to Work CEO Michael Bush, is a belief that creating a strong culture is good for their people and the bottom line.
More news below.
Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at [email protected]
Top news
Trade war with China begins. Tariffs on goods imported from China to the U.S. Are now 145%, and goods going the other way are now taxed at 125%, China announced this morning. It virtually brings to an end $582 billion in international trade between the two countries.
The economic fallout will be felt in a million ways, large and small, across the world. One example from the WSJ: Arlen Nercessian, a California kitchen-equipment supplier, asked his Chinese agent to put his shipments of aluminum plates on hold even though “‘there’s no way I’ll get any of these in the U.S.,’ he said. He might have to cut most of the company’s nine employees and contractors, switch to cheaper software and stop traveling to food shows to advertise his products ‘just to hunker down and survive.’”
Apple’s supply chain is trapped. The company has spent decades building the partnerships it needs in China for its computers and phones. The cost of iPhones in the U.S. Could double or triple if negotiations don’t reduce the tariffs. (Of course, they will remain the same price in all other countries which don’t tariff Chinese goods!) Apple “had their boat flipped over in the ocean with no life rafts,” says Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives.
Tesla stopped taking orders in China. Elon Musk’s company is no longer selling the Model S and Model X vehicles in China. Although those sales are a small part of Tesla’s overall business, the context is that Tesla’s biggest manufacturing facility is in Shanghai, and that site supplies the majority of its international sales, according to Reuters.
Is Trump’s plan working? There’s a school of thought that the president’s tariff policy was always a ploy to target China and bring international partners closer to the U.S. But the idea is complicated by the fact global markets haven’t recovered and a trade war with China looms, writes Paolo Confino.
Europe prepares tariffs on U.S. Tech companies. Life will get more expensive for Mag 7 companies if negotiations fail, according to European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen.
UAW workers’ profit-sharing checks will be reduced. Trump’s tariffs on autos are driving car companies’ profits to zero, and that’s going to cost UAW members $1,000 to $5,000 in lost pay, according to the Anderson Economic Group. Some checks could go to zero. Irony alert: The UAW supports Trump’s tariff plan.
U.S.-Iran nuclear deal talks are continuing. Jaw-jaw is better than war-war, as they say.
Ex-Abercrombie & Fitch boss Mike Jeffries has dementia and is thus unfit to stand trial in the sex crimes case against him, his lawyers say. Jeffries was 80 when he was arrested.
Jassy’s suggestion box. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy wrote in his annual note to shareholders that a program asking employees to call out bureaucracy at the company garnered almost 1,000 responses. Jassy said he’s already made more than 350 changes based on the feedback.
Banks report earnings today. Analysts are warning that banks like JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, and Morgan Stanley could announce lower-than-expected Q1 earnings results when they are expected to report on Friday, though Citi may fare better.
What to grab before tariffs resume. Everything from electronics to household items to pharmaceuticals will be in pricing jeopardy when the freeze on President Trump’s reciprocal tariffs ends in early July. Here’s everything to stock up on in the meantime.
China is winning the trade war so far, according to the markets:
- The S&P 500 dropped another 3.5% yesterday and is now down 10.4% YTD.
- S&P 500 futures were in the red this morning, pre-opening bell.
- By contrast: China’s SSE Composite rose 0.45% today and is down only 0.75% YTD.
- Treasuries are behaving like risk assets. That’s not good, former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers says.
- The price of gold—famously a safe haven for investors—hit a new record high.
- The VIX fear index remains at its highest since Covid struck in 2020.
- The dollar is weakening. It has lost 8.34% of its value YTD versus the DXY, an index that tracks a basket of commonly traded currencies.
- Goldman Sachs warned of another potential global equity drawdown in a note to clients yesterday. “The probability of a further sell-off recently went above 35%,” the note says.
From the analysts
- EY on the Fed: “With little clarity on where the administration’s trade strategy will ultimately land, expecting a swift pivot toward aggressive easing would be premature,” per Gregory Daco.
- Wedbush on China: Now we would expect massive negotiations across the board over the coming months including China being front and center as the biggest wild card. For tech stocks this was much needed relief and pulls stocks and the market from the edge of the cliff although China remains the biggest X variable related to Apple and the broader supply chain,” per Daniel Ives.
- Wedbush on Apple: “No US tech company is more negatively impacted by these tariffs than Apple with 90% of iPhones produced and assembled in China. … Cupertino has no choice but to price iPhones at $2k+ if these tariffs stick for more than a few weeks,” Ives says.
- Oxford Economics on jobs: “The jobless claims data are consistent with a labor market that is healthy enough to allow the Federal Reserve to keep policy on hold while it monitors the path of inflation as tariff effects fully kick in. The labor market will weaken this year in response to tariffs, but we think the Fed will delay rate cuts as long as possible and won’t resume loosening monetary policy until December,” per Nancy Vanden Houten.
Around the watercooler
Gold prices are on fire. Here’s why it’s a favorite investment during market volatility by Jeff John Roberts
Meta’s AI research lab is ‘dying a slow death,’ some insiders say. Meta prefers to call it ‘a new beginning’ by Sharon Goldman
CarMax is the latest company to nix long-term growth targets on earnings call: ‘Why put a target out there?’By Sheryl Estrada
Apple airlifted 600 tons of iPhones to the U.S. To try to beat Trump’s tariffs as customers scramble to secure devices before possible price increases by Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez
Elon Musk accused of rage quitting while livestreaming a video game after repeatedly dying and being mercilessly cyberbullied by viewers by Christiaan Hetzner
