CNBC Daily Open: Elon Musk’s companies report positive developments amid his return to work

In his first week away from the U.S. government’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency, Elon Musk is seeing positive activity in his companies. His brain tech startup Neuralink announced a $650 million funding round, while his electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla in May enjoyed a 213% year-on-year jump in sales in Norway.

Of course, the causal link between those events and Musk’s departure from DOGE is tenuous. The funding process and sales duration occurred while Musk still had his hands full with the White House, and so could have happened with little — or none — of his leadership or input.

But both serve as reminders why so many are Musk backers: His companies are, fundamentally, successful ones. But, like Tesla’s promised full self-driving feature, Musk’s firms aren’t completely autonomous and need a steady— and ideally “super focused” — hand to guide them.

Muted start to June
U.S. stocks posted modest gains Monday, the first trading day of June. The S&P 500 advanced 0.41%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 0.08% and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.67%. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index fell 0.14%. Shares of Wegovy maker Novo Nordisk climbed 1.9% amid a U.S. ban on copycat weight loss drugs.

Steel tariffs will hike U.S. prices
The 50% tariff on steel imports that U.S. President Donald Trump announced Friday will push up prices of the metal in America, according to analysts. “Already steel prices in the U.S. are higher than anywhere else, and it is a net importer which needs to have volumes coming in. All this does is raise prices there,” Josh Spoores, head of steel Americas analysis at CRU, told CNBC on Monday.

Neuralink raised $650 million
Elon Musk’s Neuralink has closed a $650 million funding round, the brain tech startup announced Monday. ARK Invest, Founders Fund, Sequoia Capital, Thrive Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners and other firms participated in the round, according to a press release. Neuralink is building a brain-computer interface, a system that translates brain signals into commands for external technologies.

Tesla sales in Norway jump
Tesla’s sale of new cars in Norway skyrocketed 213% to 2,600 in May from a year earlier, according to official data. The increase was mostly driven by sales of the firm’s revamped Model Y compact sport utility vehicle. That bucks a downward trend across Europe — industry groups on Monday reported significantly lower May sales for new Tesla vehicles in Spain, Portugal, Denmark and Sweden.

[PRO] ‘Anywhere But The USA’
Seesawing trade policies, proposed foreign capital taxes and concerns over U.S. fiscal spending have given rise to a new trade: “Anywhere But the USA.” It’s a “recalibration toward global balance, cyclical recovery, and multi-polar growth,” investment manager Ninety One’s Alan Siow said. Here are some of the opportunities beyond the U.S. that investors and portfolio managers are looking at.

In China, ‘The Great American’ burger is now made with Australian beef

American agricultural products have been vanishing from Chinese stores and restaurants and losing ground to other imports.

At his restaurant in Beijing, Geng Xiaoyun used to offer a special dish of salt-baked chicken feet — or “phoenix talons” as they are called in China — imported from America.

“American chicken feet are so beautiful,” Xiaoyun said. “They’re spongy so they taste great. Chinese [chicken] feet just aren’t as good.”

With prices climbing 30% from March due to tariffs, the owner of Kunyuan restaurant had to pull the Chinese delicacy from the menu.