The daily business briefing: July 3, 2023

1. Tesla reports record quarter for sales

Tesla announced on Sunday that from April to June, its worldwide deliveries rose 83%. This was a record quarter with more than 466,000 vehicles delivered, and the boost was likely due to steep price cuts, The Wall Street Journal reported. One example is the Model Y SUV, which in early January started at $65,990 and now starts at $50,490. Tesla is the world's No. 1 seller of electric vehicles, and has been aiming for 50% annual delivery growth on average. The company also revealed that in the second quarter, it produced 479,700 vehicles. From January to June, Tesla's shares more than doubled, and ended June at $261.77; this is below the stock's peak of more than $400 a share in November 2021.

The Wall Street Journal

2. Janet Yellen set to go to China to stabilize relations

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is heading to Beijing this week to meet with senior officials, less than a month after Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to China to speak with President Xi Jinping. This is part of an effort to improve relations between the U.S. and China, and Yellen is expected to not only share with Chinese officials the "three principles guiding America's economic relationship with Beijing," Axios reported, but will also state her concerns over economic coercion by China. Yellen said she will use this trip to "reestablish contact," telling MSNBC last week that "there are a new group of leaders, we need to get to know one another." Her visit to Beijing was supposed to happen earlier, but was postponed in February after President Biden ordered the military to shoot down a Chinese spy balloon flying over the U.S.

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Axios

3. Thousands of Southern California hotel workers go on strike

Thousands of hotel workers in Southern California went on strike Sunday, with union organizers calling for better wages and health care benefits and larger pension contributions. The strikers are from Unite Here Local 11, representing cooks, dishwashers, servers, room attendants, bellmen, and front desk agents. The union has about 32,000 members in Southern California and Arizona, with the strike affecting about half. Contracts expired on Friday at midnight. While talks have stalled between the union and dozens of hotels involved in negotiations, a tentative agreement was reached last week with the Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites in downtown Los Angeles, its biggest employer with more than 600 workers.

Los Angeles Times

4. 'Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny' has a disappointing opening weekend

"Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny," Harrison Ford's farewell to the role of Indiana Jones, grossed $60 million domestically in its opening weekend. It was a disappointing showing for a film that reportedly cost close to $300 million, and it was also a decline from "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," which had a three-day debut of $100 million in 2008. It's possible Disney's decision to premiere "Dial of Destiny" at the Cannes Film Festival in May hurt the film, as early reviews were surprisingly negative. As a result, the movie sat with a "rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes a month before its release.

The Hollywood Reporter

5. Stock futures mixed as 2nd half of 2023 kicks off

Stock futures were mixed in premarket trading Monday as Wall Street marked the beginning of the second half of 2023. Futures for the Nasdaq were up 0.2% and those for the S&P 500 were up 0.1%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down 0.1%. Shares of companies were leading premarket, reported The Wall Street Journal, with Tesla out ahead. Its stock jumped 6% in premarket trading after the electric-vehicle company posted record quarterly sales. "Stocks are coming off a banner start to 2023," said CNBC. The U.S. stock markets will close early on Monday and remain closed Tuesday in observance of Independence Day.

The Wall Street Journal CNBC