⛅️ Solar Stocks Plunge

+ Trump Wants Fannie and Freddie Truly Public

May 22, 2025

Good afternoon! If you’ve ever had an Amazon package stolen, you can likely blame the Armenian mafia. The DOJ just charged associates of an Armenian organized crime ring with stealing over $83 million worth of goods by pretending to be legit truck drivers. Instead of delivering freight to Amazon warehouses, they rerouted shipments and resold everything from Shark vacuums to Weber grills.

Turns out, porch pirates are the JV team these guys were running full-blown cargo heists. The fraudsters operated shell companies, used Amazon’s own freight booking system, and even documented their stash in videos and selfies. Amazon says it's cracking down on organized retail crime, but clearly, the scale of these thefts goes way beyond the doorstep.

MARKETS

  • Stocks ran in place Thursday as investors digested the House’s razor-thin approval of Trump’s tax-and-spending plan. Treasury yields climbed early, with the 10-year popping back above 4.5%, making equities look less appealing compared to bonds offering hefty returns.

  • Markets turned mixed by the close, with the Dow flat, the S&P just barely negative, and the Nasdaq posting a modest gain. While bond yields settled down in the afternoon, longer-term concerns over debt and creditworthiness kept a lid on gains and left investors wondering whether this “big, beautiful” bill could come with an ugly hangover.

STOCKS
Winners & Losers

What’s up 📈

  • Advance Auto Parts exploded 57.04% after posting a narrower-than-expected quarterly loss and beating revenue estimates, signaling a turnaround in its business. ($AAP)

  • Urban Outfitters soared 22.84% after crushing earnings estimates with EPS of $1.16 and revenue of $1.33 billion. ($URBN)

  • Snowflake jumped 13.43% after a strong beat on both earnings and revenue, plus upbeat guidance for the current quarter. ($SNOW)

  • Pitney Bowes gained 9.45% after appointing board director Kurt Wolf as the new CEO, succeeding Lance Rosenzweig. ($PBI)

  • Seagate Technology rose 4.24% after announcing a $5 billion stock buyback plan during its investor day. ($STX)

  • Nike climbed 2.23% after news broke that it would resume selling its products on Amazon, ending a five-year break. ($NKE)

  • Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac soared 54.13% and 43.56%, respectively, after President Trump said he’s considering taking the mortgage giants public. ($FNMA, $FMCC)

What’s down 📉

  • Sunrun plunged 37.05% amid a broader solar stock sell-off triggered by the House Republican tax bill’s impact on clean energy incentives. ($RUN)

  • SolarEdge and Enphase Energy tumbled 24.67% and 19.63%, respectively, joining the green energy sector's collapse. ($SEDG, $ENPH)

  • Analog Devices fell 4.63% despite beating earnings and revenue expectations, as investors seemed to focus on future growth concerns. ($ADI)

  • Williams-Sonoma dropped 4.48% after issuing corporate guidance that disappointed the Street. ($WSM)

  • CVS Health, Humana, and UnitedHealth slipped 3.04%, 7.58%, and 2.08%, respectively, following the CMS announcement of stricter Medicare Advantage audits. ($CVS, $HUM, $UNH)

SOLAR
Solar Stocks Plunge as GOP Tax Bill Takes 'Sledgehammer' to Green Subsidies

The U.S. rooftop solar industry just got scorched. A House-approved tax bill, fast-tracked for President Trump’s signature, would slash renewable energy credits years ahead of schedule, effectively ending them by December. Residential solar and battery storage credits, originally set to phase out by 2031, would disappear in one fell swoop.

Industry execs didn’t mince words. “This is basically shutting down the industry,” said Altus Power’s Gregg Felton. Investors seemed to agree: Sunrun cratered 37 percent, Enphase tumbled nearly 20 percent, and SolarEdge dropped 25 percent. Even utility-scale names like Array and Nextracker fell around 3 percent as tax breaks for large installations got pulled back to 2028.

A Market on Life Support

The timing couldn’t be worse. Rooftop solar has already been bruised by California’s NEM 3.0 decision, rising interest rates, and financing headwinds. Around 70 percent of residential solar systems are leased or financed, models that rely heavily on stable policy and cheap money. Sunnova is rumored to be on bankruptcy watch, while SunPower has already filed for Chapter 11.

And if you thought leasing might offer some protection, think again. Unlike past proposals, this version makes no exception for third-party owned systems. “This clear and simple rug pull doesn’t give the industry time to adjust,” said Sunrun CEO Mary Powell. Analysts are sounding the alarm too. Piper Sandler’s Kashy Harrison called it “the end of U.S. residential solar as it exists today.”

Demand’s Up, But Solar’s Out

Adding to the irony, electricity demand in the U.S. is rising for the first time in a generation thanks to a flood of AI-driven data centers. The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act had given solar a massive tailwind. Now, Trump’s team is calling it the “green new scam” and this bill could claw back $500 billion in tax revenue over the next decade, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation.

The Senate still needs to weigh in, and tweaks are possible. But with a 53–47 GOP majority and a July 4 signing deadline on the calendar, the industry isn’t exactly holding its breath. For now, rooftop solar’s future looks less like a sunrise and more like a blackout.

NEWS
Market Movements

MARKETS
Trump Wants Fannie and Freddie Truly Public

Fannie Mae ($FNMA) and Freddie Mac ($FMCC) stocks surged more than 30% after President Trump said he’s giving “very serious consideration” to taking both mortgage giants fully public. While the stocks themselves already trade, the companies have been under federal conservatorship since the 2008 financial crisis. What Trump is proposing is to end that government control and re-privatize the firms effectively freeing them to operate like independent, shareholder-driven entities again.

What Do They Actually Do?

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac don’t originate home loans. Instead, they buy mortgages from banks and lenders, bundle them into securities, and sell them to investors. This process injects liquidity into the housing market, making it easier for banks to offer 30-year fixed-rate mortgages. The government guarantee behind these mortgage-backed securities has long reassured investors that they’ll get paid even if borrowers default.

If fully privatized, Fannie and Freddie could become two of the largest IPOs in history. A note from Santander estimated the combined public offering could be worth $382 billion, with the government standing to collect over $250 billion from its stake. Hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, whose firm Pershing Square owns shares, has called the move “the biggest deal in history” and argued that the government could profit handsomely.

The Fine Print Gets Complicated

Of course, moving from government oversight to market freedom won’t happen overnight. The Treasury holds warrants for nearly 80% of the companies’ common stock, and there are questions about what form any government guarantee would take post-conservatorship. Analysts say if the government backing is reduced, investors may demand higher yields, which could push mortgage rates up by 0.5 percentage points or more.

Why It Matters: Fannie and Freddie play a foundational role in U.S. housing, buying and securitizing home loans to keep credit flowing. Privatization could help reduce the deficit and restore control to shareholders, but if mishandled, it could shake the mortgage-backed securities market. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and FHFA Director Bill Pulte are now weighing how to move forwardTrump said a decision is coming soon.

Don’t Expect It Tomorrow: Despite the market reaction, analysts caution that nothing is imminent. TD Cowen noted this is more about reaffirming Trump’s support for recap and release than signaling immediate action. The earliest realistic window for such a move? Late 2026 or early 2027 — after more planning, policy work, and political debate.

Calendar
On The Horizon

Tomorrow

Wall Street can take a breather Friday, there’s barely anything on the docket. No big-name earnings, no headline-grabbing Fed speeches, just a new home sales report from the Census Bureau to round out the week.

In other words, if you're looking to mentally check out and slide into Memorial Day mode a little early, now’s your chance.

NEWS
The Daily Rundown

He’s already IPO’d once – this time’s different

Spencer Rascoff grew Zillow from seed to IPO. But everyday investors couldn’t join until then, missing early gains. So he did things differently with Pacaso. They’ve made $110M+ in gross profits disrupting a $1.3T market. And after reserving the Nasdaq ticker PCSO, you can join for $2.80/share until 5/29.

This is a paid advertisement for Pacaso’s Regulation A offering. Please read the offering circular at invest.pacaso.com. Reserving a ticker symbol is not a guarantee that the company will go public. Listing on the NASDAQ is subject to approvals. Under Regulation A+, a company has the ability to change its share price by up to 20%, without requalifying the offering with the SEC.

REFERRAL
Share Investinq 🤝 Acquire Swag

If you love reading our newsletter, don’t be selfish — share it. Odds are your favorite finance bro, trader, investor, or stock market fanatic will too.

Don’t keep all the market news to yourself — share the love using the unique link below.

We deliver you all the news for free every single day (go on… help us out ;)

And here’s the kicker: every referral you make gets you entered into a raffle to win some awesome prizes listed below. Just share the link below and you’ll be entered once they sign up.

RESOURCES
The Federal Reserve Resource

Join our small yet growing subreddit 🚀: https://www.reddit.com/r/investinq/

Wall Street Reads 💎 (Best Books):

Check out our latest issues 🎯: https://investinq.beehiiv.com