Market Beats | SpaceX’s Blockbuster $25bn Bond Sale Weakens Rapidly in Secondary Market; Novak Djokovic Joins General Atlantic as Global Strategic Adviser; Governor Gavin Newsom Calls for Federal Billionaires’ Tax; New York City Rent Board Votes to Freeze Rents for 1 million Stabilized Apartments; Tesla Quietly Settles Lawsuit Over Fatal 2023 Crash; Billionaire Investor Leon Black Issued Two Subpoenas After Walking Out of House Epstein Testimony; Apple’s First Touch-Screen MacBook to Rely on M5 Chips

—— SpaceX’s Blockbuster $25bn Bond Sale Weakens Rapidly in Secondary Market; Novak Djokovic Joins General Atlantic as Global Strategic Adviser; Governor Gavin Newsom Calls for Federal Billionaires’ Tax; New York City Rent Board Votes to Freeze Rents for 1 million Stabilized Apartments; Tesla Quietly Settles Lawsuit Over Fatal 2023 Crash; Billionaire Investor Leon Black Issued Two Subpoenas After Walking Out of House Epstein Testimony; Apple’s First Touch-Screen MacBook to Rely on M5 Chips

1. SpaceX’s Blockbuster $25bn Bond Sale Weakens Rapidly in Secondary Market

SpaceX’s blockbuster bond sale is weakening so quickly in the secondary market that traders say they can’t recall another recent deal that widened this sharply. One large dealer was quoting SpaceX bonds maturing in 2056 at levels as much as 0.28 percentage point wider than the issue price of 1.75 percentage points above Treasuries, according to people with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing private activity in the over-the-counter market. Paper losses on SpaceX’s $25 billion offering have mounted since the debt began trading and totaled roughly $305 million as of late Thursday relative to Treasuries.

The longest-dated SpaceX bonds, which drew more skepticism than those with shorter maturities, have effectively erased all the tightening from underwriters that followed as orders swelled to nearly $90 billion. Traders say the moves suggest fast-money accounts, rather than traditional buy-and-hold investors, piled into the deal looking to flip it for a quick profit.

The selling pressure stands out even more because SpaceX shares have been largely stable since the bonds priced on Tuesday, after lurching 16% lower the day before.

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2. Novak Djokovic Joins General Atlantic as Global Strategic Adviser

Novak Djokovic, a 24-time Grand Slam tennis champion, joined General Atlantic as the firm dives deeper into sports investing. Djokovic, the most dominant player in the Open era, will work closely with the firm’s leadership, portfolio companies, and investors in his new role as global strategic adviser. “This is the first partnership of this kind for me,” Djokovic, 39, said in an interview from Wimbledon, where he’s gunning for his 25th Grand Slam title. “I like to disrupt, I like to challenge the status quo on and off the court and I’m looking for people who are like-minded.”

General Atlantic Chief Executive Officer Bill Ford first connected with the Serbian tennis star through an entrepreneur before the 2023 French Open, which Djokovic went on to win. “Together we’re going to be able to be very effective on the investing side,” Ford said. “He has deal flow, we have deal flow, he has some unique relationships.”

General Atlantic, which manages $126 billion, plans to lean on Djokovic’s connections to push further into the health and wellness sector.

Djokovic famously credits his gluten-free diet and fitness routine for his long run as world’s top-ranked tennis player. He even revealed how he abstained from chocolate for almost two years to maintain his athleticism.

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3. Governor Gavin Newsom Calls for Federal Billionaires’ Tax

Governor Gavin Newsom is calling for a federal tax on billionaires after failing to stop a California wealth tax from reaching the November ballot, setting up a high-profile test of whether voters will back one of the nation’s most aggressive efforts to tax the rich. Newsom, who is considering a presidential run in 2028, said on Friday that he stands against the California measure, arguing that taxing billionaires should be done nationally rather than state by state. He instead called for a federal tax on billionaires and those worth more than $100 million, changes to inheritance rules and closing tax loopholes on wealthy people borrowing against their assets, on a lengthy Substack post. Newsom didn’t propose a rate for a federal wealth tax or outline how it would work, including what exactly would be taxed. He also proposed creating a public equity fund that would take a stake in the artificial intelligence economy, though again he offered few details.

“It is time for a national billionaires’ tax,” Newsom said. “The fight belongs at the federal level, where this broken system was created in the first place.” The governor, billionaires and progressive groups tried persuading the union, SEIU-UHW, to withdraw the measure before Thursday evening’s deadline, but failed to reach a deal.

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4. New York City Rent Board Votes to Freeze Rents for 1 Million Stabilized Apartments

New York City’s Rent Guidelines Board voted to freeze rents for roughly one million stabilized apartments, handing Mayor Zohran Mamdani a major political victory and delivering on a central promise that launched him to City Hall. The board voted 7-1 to pass the freeze, which applies to both one- and two-year leases. It is the first time that rents for longer-term rental agreements have been frozen.

The freeze was approved in spite of pushback from landlords who say that they are being squeezed by spiraling costs — and hours after a member of the panel quit in protest, saying the process had become too politicized. Mamdani has repeatedly called for a freeze, arguing that stabilized tenants are facing rising costs for food, transportation and other necessities even as wages fail to keep pace.

The vote follows months of debate over whether tenants should be shielded from soaring housing costs despite mounting financial pressures on landlords. The freeze will apply to leases signed between Oct. 1, 2026 and Sept. 30, 2027.

The last one-year rent freeze was during the pandemic in 2020.

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5. Tesla Quietly Settles Lawsuit Over Fatal 2023 Crash

Tesla Inc. has quietly resolved a lawsuit stemming from a fatal 2023 crash that precipitated a defect investigation into the carmaker’s automated-driving technology. The collision involved 71-year-old Johna Story, who had stepped out of her vehicle on an Arizona highway to help direct traffic around cars that had already crashed due to blinding sun glare. Moments later, she was struck at high speed by a Tesla Model Y SUV using the company’s so-called Full Self-Driving system.

Story’s death — one of 40,901 on US roads that year — was the first known pedestrian fatality linked to Tesla’s automation technology. The crash prompted a federal investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and a lawsuit from Story’s daughter against Tesla and the driver. Attorney Dustin Birch, who represents Story’s daughter, said in a phone interview that the case recently settled and “my client is happy to put this behind her.” Terms of the settlement weren’t disclosed, and an attorney for Tesla didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Bloomberg News published an investigation last year that examined whether sun glare can compromise Tesla’s camera-based automated-driving system. The report reconstructed the crash in part through videos and photos obtained via public-records requests. Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk has increasingly bet Tesla’s future on driverless-vehicle technology and robotaxis, with FSD underpinning those ambitions.

The automaker has sought approvals around the world for versions of the technology, even as some auto-safety advocates posit that aspects of the system are defective.

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6. Billionaire Investor Leon Black Issued Two Subpoenas After Walking Out of House Epstein Testimony

Billionaire investor Leon Black was issued two subpoenas by a congressional committee and walked out early from voluntary testimony regarding his relationship to late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Members of the House panel investigating Epstein clashed with Black behind closed doors on Friday about non-disclosure agreements the Apollo Global Management Inc. co-founder allegedly concluded with women. The House Oversight Committee issued one subpoena requiring Black to appear for a deposition on July 16, according to a statement from the panel. The second subpoena requires him to produce NDAs to the committee.

Black said in his opening statement to the committee that he never abused women and wasn’t blackmailed by Epstein, his longtime friend and client. After questions about NDAs, Black left the meeting early, something the chairman of the panel said he had never seen before. “Mr. Black stated he wouldn’t answer questions about NDAs,” James Comer, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said in a statement. “Answers about the terms and substance of these NDAs are critical to our investigation. For this reason, today I issued subpoenas to Mr. Black for NDAs and to appear for a deposition in the near future.”

Black, 74, said earlier that he had decided to appear before the panel to set the record straight on his relationship with Epstein and why he paid him millions of dollars over the course of their relationship. “I was not involved with, and had no knowledge of, any of Epstein’s heinous conduct,” he said.

Moments after Black left the hearing room, his lawyer Susan Estrich alleged that the issuing of subpoenas while Black was before the committee was “nothing more than a planned political stunt.”

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7. Apple’s First Touch-Screen MacBook to Rely on M5 Chips

Pacific Investment Management Co. is warning that the “credit loss cycle is upon us” as heavy spending on artificial intelligence could widen economic outcomes and hit lower-quality borrowers. Pimco’s Richard Clarida, Andrew Balls and Daniel Ivascyn said in the firm’s latest annual secular outlook report that “the default cycle is reasserting itself, and we expect significantly higher losses in lower-quality credit such as leveraged and private direct lending.” Pimco, which manages $2.3 trillion in assets, said the AI buildout could widen the range of economic outcomes over the next five years while leaving weaker and more heavily leveraged borrowers exposed. High-grade credit spreads — the extra yield investors demand over US Treasuries to hold highly rated corporate debt — remain near their lowest levels in almost three decades. Demand for riskier debt has also held up despite a recent global bond selloff, as higher yields draw buyers.

Pimco said that backdrop clashes with “elevated secular uncertainty,” and “we interpret this as complacency rather than strength.” While the US economy has been resilient, “AI will disrupt old economy companies, especially highly levered ones.” The firm also pointed to “increased instances of maturity extensions and payment-in-kind structures that allow borrowers to repay debt with more debt,” a trend it said suggests “a more genuine default cycle is now unfolding, and investors should not expect past patterns of rapid recovery to repeat with the same reliability.” Pimco said one effect of the AI boom could be lower wage pressure and higher productivity, which it described as “a powerful disinflationary force, but geopolitical shocks and supply chain reconfiguration will likely put upward pressure on prices.”

Against that backdrop, Pimco said “central banks will do what it takes to keep inflation expectations anchored over the next five years,” and that “for this reason, sovereign bonds offer income plus the potential for capital gains in a future downturn.”

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