Financial analysts with Wall Street firm Morgan Stanley believe that Elon Musk's very public feud with President Donald Trump was calculated to gain "maximum" attention for his opposition to the "big, beautiful bill," according to Investing.com.
Market reporter Sam Boughedda wrote Tuesday, "Morgan Stanley analysts believe that Elon Musk’s recent public communication 'campaign'...is 'likely part of a planned strategy by Elon to achieve a specific goal with his approach designed to bring maximum public attention to the issue.'"
Before the friendship completely imploded last week, Musk wrote on his social media platform, "This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination."
The Investing.com report continued that "Despite the potential for 'negative sentiment around Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s products/brand' due to Musk’s political involvement, Morgan Stanley suggests this 'would not have come as a surprise to company management.'"
The firm argued that despite his promise to "focus solely on Tesla" from now on, Musk's vision of business and politics are "very much inseparable" for the Tesla CEO, with the "financial adequacy of the United States (budget deficit, national debt, etc)...elevated to a top priority."
Regardless, Morgan Stanley said it retained "sufficient confidence in the long-term vision of the company to reiterate the name as our ’Top Pick’ in U.S. autos," Investing.com reported.
London-based Data Center Dynamics offered a perspective on the Morgan Stanley/Elon Musk connection.
"Elon Musk's split with President Donald Trump was on the same day that Morgan Stanley tried to help [Musk's] generative AI company xAI raise $5 billion," the site reported. "The Wall Street Journal reports that xAI executives were speaking to Wall Street about the company’s data center buildout and AI chatbot Grok, this past Thursday."
Data Center's editor-in-chief continued, "Morgan Stanley had been hoping to sell the debt at around 100 cents on the dollar, with the close relationship between President Trump and White House adviser Musk having helped boost stocks in Musk's businesses, and reverse a decline in the valuation of social platform X (which is merging with xAI)."