Good morning, investors. It’s the first day of the Federal Reserve’s two-day meeting, and the whole world expects a rate cut on Wednesday. Late Monday, an appeals ruled that Fed Governor Lisa Cook can continue to serve as President Trump’s attempt to remove her is litigated.

We’ll be covering the matter over the next several days — but this morning, we’re turning to Tesla.

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Notable as Elon Musk’s $1 billion purchase of Tesla shares seems, it shouldn’t overshadow the 80% rally the stock had already secured since Liberation Day. 

On Monday, Musk disclosed his first open-market Tesla purchase in more than five years — 2.6 million shares worth about $1 billion.

The stock jumped as much as 8% on the news and finished the day 3.6% higher.

To be clear, $1 billion is barely a rounding error against a $472 billion net worth.

The buy lifted his total holdings, excluding stock options, to about 413 million shares, or about 12.8% of the company’s total shares.

Wall Street rightfully took the insider buying as a bullish signal. Investors like to see executives put skin in the game because it shows conviction on where the company’s headed. 

That said, Tesla isn’t like other companies and Musk isn’t like other executives. 

He didn’t step in during the sell-off earlier in the year.

Instead he bought after Tesla climbed from $221 to nearly $400 a share, almost as if to endorse the rebound rather than catalyze new momentum. 

Tesla’s valuation has marched higher the last five months despite absorbing skepticism over its vehicle sales, earnings, self-driving cars and the attention of its CEO.

Indeed, outside Tesla Musk runs SpaceX, NeuraLink, X, Boring Company, and xAI, not to mention his political pursuits. 

Nonetheless, investors continue to pile into Tesla. 

Shareholders recently voted to grant Musk an incentive package that could be worth $1 trillion in the coming years should he meet a series of ambitious goals. 

Against that backdrop, a $1 billion stock purchase seems inconsequential. 

Still, symbolism has always mattered to Musk and his shareholders.

The buy reminds the world that he’s sticking with Tesla for years to come, and that the company still has his attention. It’s narrative maintenance and a confidence game.

Baked into Musk’s historic new pay package is the ambition for him to lift Tesla to an $8.5 trillion market capitalization, which implies about $2,100 per share. 

That — as Musk and his shareholders are betting — makes buying the stock at $410 seem like a bargain.

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🤝 The US and China made progress on a TikTok deal. Negotiators reached a framework deal after two days of talks in Madrid, and it will be confirmed Friday between the nation’s two leaders, according to Scott Bessent. (WSJ)

🇨🇳 China says Nvidia broke monopoly laws. After the preliminary finding, the company has asked partners to stop work on its H20 product after China told firms not to buy the hardware. The stock dipped Monday. (Barron’s)

📊 Trump wants semi-annual corporate earnings. Rather than the usual quarterly reports that Wall Street watches so closely, the president floated the idea of doing it twice a year instead, subject to SEC approval. This would “allow managers to focus on properly running their companies.” (Truth Social)

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📰 I’m Phil Rosen, co-founder and editor-in-chief of Opening Bell Daily. I’ve published books, lived on three continents, and won awards for my journalism, which has appeared in Business Insider, Fortune, Yahoo Finance, Bloomberg and Inc. Magazine.

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