Solar sinks as Senate eyes tax credit sunset
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Welcome to Seeking Alpha's Wall Street Breakfast, where we cover the top news for investors every morning. Thanks for joining us on this Tuesday, June 17th. I'm Julie Morgan. Green energy takes a hit, AI suits up, and Amazon extends the deal days.

Solar company shares are in the red pre-market after Republicans who control the U.S. Senate Finance Committee unveiled changes to President Trump's tax and spending bill that would fully phase out solar and wind energy tax credits by 2028. Among relevant stocks, Sunrun is down 26.8%, SolarEdge Technologies is down 21.8%, and Enphase Energy is down 16.7%.

First Solar, which analysts have said would come out of the tax law changes better than its peers, is down 9.4 percent pre-market.

The modified text of the bill extends tax credits for hydro, nuclear, and geothermal power to 2036. The Senate language gives more time for clean energy projects to use the tax credits than the House version, which required that a project must start construction within 60 days of the bill's enactment and be placed into service by year-end 2028 to qualify for the tax credits.

The Defense Department has awarded a one-year, $200 million contract to OpenAI for the use of its AI models. The department announced a one-year contract on Monday after OpenAI said it would collaborate with a defense technology startup to deploy advanced AI systems for national security missions.

The Defense Department said under this award, the performer will develop prototype frontier AI capabilities to address critical national security challenges in both warfighting and enterprise domains. In a blog post, OpenAI said the contract represents the first arrangement in a new initiative named OpenAI for Government, which includes the existing ChatGPT government product.

And just in case you needed an excuse to spend more money on Amazon, your wish is their command. Amazon is extending its annual Prime Day shopping event to four full days this year, running from July 8th through July 11th. In July of 2024, U.S. shoppers spent $14.2 billion during Prime Day, marking an 11% year-over-year increase, according to Adobe Analytics.

Of course, you can expect Amazon's competitors to get in on the action. Walmart, Target, and most recently ByteDance's TikTok shop are rolling out their own discount events, aiming to capture early spending on back-to-school and back-to-college items such as electronics, clothing, and home goods.

Now for a look at a few other articles that are trending on Seeking Alpha. At the G7 summit, leaders are said to draft strategy to secure critical mineral supply. Eli Lilly reportedly nears a $1.3 billion deal for Verve Therapeutics. And the U.S. and the U.K. have reached a tariff deal at the G7. Steel imports are still unresolved.

On our Catalyst Watch for the Day, shareholders with Penn Entertainment will vote on whether to support three independent director candidates nominated by activist investor H.G. Vora Capital Management or stick with the board's preferred slate.

Equifax will host an Investor Day event featuring presentations from the senior leadership team on the company's EFX 2027 strategic priorities and investing in new products, data, analytics, and EFX. And Marvell Technology will host a major webinar titled The Future of Custom Silicon Technology for AI Infrastructure.

On Wall Street today, ahead of the opening bell, Dow, S&P and Nasdaq futures are in the red. Crude oil is up 1.5% to $72 a barrel. Bitcoin is down 0.5% at $106,000. Gold is flat at $3,382.

Lenar is on our list of the biggest movers of the day pre-market. LEN is up 2.5% after reporting mixed fiscal Q2 results as revenue topped expectations while earnings missed. On today's economic calendar, at 8.30 a.m. retail sales and at 10 a.m. the housing market index. ♪

That's it for today's Wall Street Breakfast. Thanks for listening. For a full offering of news, analysis, ratings, and data on stocks and ETFs, become a premium subscriber. Learn more at SeekingAlpha.com slash subscriptions. I'm your host, Julie Morgan. Go out and make it a great day.