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Ford (F) is expected to release its first quarter 2023 earnings after market close on Tuesday, May 2, as the company’s first report to break down EV financial results separately. Wall Street analysts expect Ford’s overall earnings to increase slightly in Q1 alongside higher revenues as the industry’s shift to fully electric vehicles intensifies.

Ford EV sales in the first quarter of 2023

After selling a record 61,575 fully electric models last year, Ford’s momentum slipped in Q1, losing its position as the second-largest EV manufacturer in the US to rival American automaker General Motors (GM).

Ford sold 10,866 EVs in the first three months of the year, representing 41% growth year-over-year (YOY).

The biggest surprise was Mustang Mach-e sales fell nearly 20% to just over 5,400 units compared to 6,734 in Q1 2022, though it was mainly due to its plant in Mexico undergoing renovations to ramp production.

Meanwhile, despite a production halt earlier this year, F-150 Lightning sales reached 4,291, with demand for electric trucks climbing.

Ford continues to be a leader in the commercial segment, with E-Transit sales up 62.7% as businesses and fleets look for zero-emission alternatives.

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Ford Mustang Mach-E (Source: Ford)

Ford Q1 2023 earnings preview

Ford’s upcoming Q1 earnings are expected to be the first where the automaker will break down its financial results into three segments, Ford Model e (EV), Ford Pro (business and software), and Ford Blue (ICE).

Ford has already said it expects the electric vehicle business to lose $3 billion this year as it looks to double Mach-e and triple F-150 Lightning production.

This comes after Ford already lost $2.1 billion last year and a total of $6 billion since 2021. Despite the massive losses, the automaker expects its first-gen EVs to approach the breakeven point this year. However, the surplus will be more than offset by new electric investments.

As for the first quarter, we will likely see substantial losses from Ford’s EV unit with lower margins and production hurdles.

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Ford Q1 2023 revenue forecast (Source: Estimize)

On the positive side of things, with supply chain issues easing and input costs falling, Analysts are forecasting overall revenue to increase to around $39 billion from $34.5 billion in Q1 2022.

Ford-Q1-earnings-preview
Ford Q1 2023 earnings forecast (Source: Estimize)

Earnings per share (EPS) is expected to come in around 0.41 to 0.42, showing slight growth from 0.38 in the first quarter last year.

Rival GM released Q1 earnings last week, showing revenue growth of 11% to $40 billion in the first three months of 2023. GM says it expects a breakout year with new EV launches after raising earnings and cash flow guidance for the year.

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U.S. Steel shares rally as Trump approves Nippon takeover with unique government ‘golden share’

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U.S. Steel shares rally as Trump approves Nippon takeover with unique government 'golden share'

U.S. President Donald Trump walks as workers react at U.S. Steel Corporation–Irvin Works in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, U.S., May 30, 2025.

Leah Millis | Reuters

U.S. Steel shares jumped on Monday after President Donald Trump approved its controversial merger with Japan’s Nippon Steel.

U.S. Steel shares were last up about 5% in premarket trading.

Trump issued an executive order on Friday that allowed U.S. Steel and Nippon to finalize their merger so long as they signed a national security agreement with the U.S. government. The companies said they signed the agreement with the government, completing the final hurdle for the deal.

U.S. Steel said the national security agreement includes a golden share for the U.S .government, without specifying what powers the government would wield with its share. Trump said on Thursday that the golden share gives the U.S. president “total control.”

Typically, golden shares allow the holder veto power over important decisions the company makes. Pennsylvania Sen. Dave McCormick told CNBC in May that the golden share will give the U.S. government control of several board seats and ensure production levels aren’t cut.

Trump has avoided calling the transaction a merger, describing the deal instead as a “partnership.” U.S. Steel confirmed in a regulatory filing Monday that the company will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Nippon Steel North America.

“All regulatory approvals required for the completion of the Transaction have been received,” U.S. Steel said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday. “The Transaction remains subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, and is expected to be completed promptly.”

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Israel vows Iran will ‘pay the price’ as attacks continue for a fourth day

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Israel vows Iran will 'pay the price' as attacks continue for a fourth day

Trails of Iranian ballistic missiles light up the night sky as seen from Gaza City during renewed missile strikes launched by Iran in retaliation against Israel on June 15, 2025.

Anadolu | Anadolu | Getty Images

Tehran will “pay the price” for its fresh missile onslaught against Israel, the Jewish state’s defense minister warned Monday, as markets braced for a fourth day of ramped-up conflict between the regional powers.

Fire exchanges have continued since Israel’s Friday attack against Iran, with Iranian media reporting Tehran’s latest strikes hit Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa, home to a major refinery. CNBC has reached out to operator Bazan for comment on the state of operations at the Haifa plant, amid reports of damage to Israel’s energy infrastructure.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said overnight it deployed “innovative methods” that “disrupted the enemy’s multi-layered defense systems, to the point that the Zionist air defense systems engaged in targeting each other,” according to a statement obtained by NBC News.

Israel has widely depended on its highly efficient Iron Dome missile defense system to fend off attacks throughout regional conflicts — but even it can be overwhelmed if a large number of projectiles are fired.

Tankers depicted in the Strait of Hormuz — a strategically important waterway which separates Iran, Oman and the United Arab Emirates.

Why Iran won’t block the Hormuz Strait oil artery even as war with Israel looms

The fresh hostilities are front-of-mind for investors, who have been weighing the odds of further escalation in the conflict and spillover into the broader oil-rich Middle East, amid concerns over crude supplies and the key shipping lane through the Strait of Hormuz connecting the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.

Oil prices retained the gains of recent days and at 09:19 a.m. London time, Ice Brent futures with August delivery were trading at $73.81 per barrel, down 0.57% from the previous trading session. The Nymex WTI contract with July expiry was at $72.7 per barrel, 0.38% lower.

Elsewhere, however, markets showed initial signs of shrugging off the latest hostilities early on Monday.

Spot prices for key safe-haven asset gold retreated early morning, down 0.42% to $3,417.83 per ounce after nearly notching a two-year-high earlier in the session, with U.S. gold futures also down 0.65% to $ 3,430.5

Tel Aviv share indices pointed higher, with the blue-chip TA-35 up 0.99% and the wider TA-125 up 1.33%.

European stock markets opened higher Monday, meanwhile, and U.S. stock futures were also in the green.

Luis Costa, global head of EM sovereign credit at Citigroup Global Markets, signaled the muted reaction could be, in part, attributed to hopes of a brisk resolution to the conflict.

“So markets are obviously, you know, bearing in mind all potential scenarios. There are obviously potentially very bad scenarios in this story,” he told CNBC’s “Europe Early Edition” on Monday. “But there is still a way out in terms of, you know, a faster resolution and bringing Iran to the table, or a short continuation here, of a very surgical and intense strike by the Israeli army.”

U.S. response in focus

As of Monday morning, Israel’s national emergency service Magen David Adom reported four dead and 87 injured following rocket strikes at four sites in “central Israel,” reporting collapsed buildings, fire and people trapped under debris.

Accusing Tehran of targeting civilians in Israel to prevent the Israel Defense Forces from “continuing the attack that is collapsing its capabilities,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, a close longtime ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said in a Google-translated social media update that “the residents of Tehran will pay the price, and soon.”

The IDF on Sunday said it had in turn “completed a wide-scale wave of strikes on numerous weapon production sites belonging to the Quds Force, the IRGC and the Iranian military, in Tehran.”

CNBC could not independently verify developments on the ground.

The U.S.’ response is now in focus, given its close support and arms provision to Israel, the unexpected cancellation of Washington’s latest nuclear deal talks with Iran, and President Donald Trump’s historically hard-hitting stance against Tehran during his first term.

Trump, who has been pushing Iran for a deal over its nuclear program, has weighed in on the conflict, opposing an Israeli proposal to kill Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to NBC News.

Discussions about the conflict are expected to take place during the ongoing meeting of the G7, encapsulating Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.K. and the U.S., along with the European Union.

CNBC’s Katrina Bishop contributed to this report.

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Tesla on ‘self-driving’ gets stuck on train track and hit by train

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Tesla on 'self-driving' gets stuck on train track and hit by train

A Tesla Model 3 got stuck on a train track and was hit, albeit slightly, by a train in Sinking Spring, PA. The driver claimed it was in “self-driving mode.”

According to the fire alerts in Berks County, a Tesla Model 3 drove around a train track barrier near South Hull Street and Columbia Avenue and got stuck in the tracks.

The driver was able to exit the vehicle, but a train hit the car, reportedly snapping off the side mirror.

The fire commissioner ordered to stop all train traffic as the emergency services worked to get the Model 3 off the tracks using a crane.

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Spitlers Garage & Towing, performed the recovery and shared a few pictures on Facebook:

The Tesla driver reportedly claimed that the vehicle was in “self-driving mode” leading up to getting stuck on the train tracks.

Tesla claims that all its vehicles built since 2016 will be capable of unsupervised self-driving with software updates; however, this has yet to occur.

Instead, Tesla has been selling a “Full Self-Driving” (FSD) package for up to $15,000 that requires the driver to constantly supervise the vehicle, with the driver remaining responsible for the car at all times.

Electrek’s Take

There have been instances of Tesla drivers engaging in reckless behavior and then attributing it to the Full Self-Driving (FSD) features.

I’m not saying it’s the case here, but it’s a possibility.

On the other side, I’ve seen FSD try to navigate around construction barriers. It’s possible that it tried to do that in this case, here and then got caught on the tracks.

We would need more data.

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