Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy laid out their vision Wednesday for the newly created and loosely defined Department of Government Efficiency rolled out by the incoming Trump administration.
In a letter published in the Wall Street Journal, the two tech entrepreneurs spoke generally about rolling back bureaucratic institutions, and zeroed in on environmental regulation.
The two Trump allies laid the groundwork for a major push to weaken or eliminate the EPA, citing recent Supreme Court decisions that overturned the “Chevron doctrine” (Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo) and that found the EPA does not have the authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions (West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency). And Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, in an interview with Fox News on Wednesday, raised the possibility of Republicans establishing a subcommittee of the House Oversight Committee to support Musk and Ramaswamy’s efforts.
Markets rally despite disappointing Nvidia earnings
Markets rallied on Thursday despite disappointment among many investors over subdued Nvidia NVDA earnings guidance. Meanwhile Bitcoin is flirting with $100,000 following the announcement that incoming President-elect Donald Trump’s media company may purchase a crypto exchange. The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ETF GBTC rose 3.25% in early trading.
Impact investors felt mixed results as the Vanguard ESG US Stock ETF ESGV slipped by 0.15% despite broad market bullishness while the iShares Global Clean Energy ETF ICLN opened down by 0.30% as markets digest Trump administration environmental policies.
HSBC shutters carbon trading unit
In the latest signal that European financial services firms are backing away from carbon credit markets, HSBC announced that it will shut down its nascent carbon department. The London-based bank had launched the group with great fanfare, and was actively promoting financing in the space until recently. The business of carbon credit trading has come under attack from regulators and activists in recent years as providing a “greenwashing” mechanism for large companies — particularly fossil fuel producers. According to Bloomberg, the market for carbon credits declined by 25% in 2023.
Charges against Adani rock US renewable investors
U.S. federal prosecutors unveiled charges against India’s second richest man, Gautam Adani, as well as his eponymous company, on Wednesday. According to charges filed in the Eastern District of New York, Adanai engaged in a multi-billion dollar scheme involving an Indian renewable-energy company (the Indian Energy Company). The renewable power firm was focused on solar projects on the subcontinent as part of “a multi-billion-dollar scheme to obtain funds from U.S. investors and global financial institutions on the basis of false and misleading statements.” A key ally of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Adani is accused of paying hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes to Indian officials to pull off the fraud.
Read more: NVIDIA earnings announcement tests investor confidence in AI
