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Shares in Tesla tanked by as much as 7.6% in premarket trading Monday after its CEO Elon Musk said he is forming a new American political party, provoking an irate response from US President Donald Trump.

Tesla stock (TSLA) later recovered some of its earlier losses but then opened down 7.6% at the start of regular trading at 9:30 a.m. ET. In mid-afternoon trading shares were down about 7%.

“I’m saddened to watch Elon Musk go completely ‘off the rails,’ essentially becoming a TRAIN WRECK over the past five weeks,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform late Sunday, also mentioning Musk’s Saturday announcement that he is forming a political party to rival the main Republican and Democratic parties.

Ahead of boarding Air Force One in New Jersey Sunday, Trump also called Musk’s announcement “ridiculous” and said it would sow confusion.

Neil Wilson, a strategist at UK trading platform Saxo Markets, said Monday that Tesla investors were concerned on two fronts: firstly, that further friction between Musk and Trump would lead to additional cuts to US government EV subsidies and, secondly, that Musk appeared “distracted.”

“Investors had cheered Musk stepping back from frontline politics but are now worried he’s going to (be) sucked back in and take his eye off Tesla,” Wilson wrote in a note.

Trump and Musk began trading barbs in early June after the Tesla CEO criticized Trump’s so-called “Big, Beautiful Bill” — a massive tax and domestic policy bill, which the president signed into law last week. Musk has argued that the policies will add trillions of dollars to the federal budget deficit.

“When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste & graft, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy,” Musk said on his social media platform, X, Saturday. “Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom.”

Trump, in his Sunday post, said third political parties “have never succeeded in the United States” and that “the one thing (they) are good for is the creation of Complete and Total DISRUPTION & CHAOS.”

Tesla stock on Monday was on track for its biggest single-day loss since June 5, when Musk and Trump traded barbs on social media.

Tesla’s fortunes have taken a turn in recent months as it has grappled with intensifying competition from rival EV makers and the fallout from Musk’s foray into US politics.

Last week, the company reported a record fall in second-quarter sales, selling 13.5% fewer vehicles compared with the same period in 2024. For that year, Tesla has also reported its first-ever annual decline in sales as a public company. The drop was small — around 1% — though it marks a striking turnaround for an automaker historically accustomed to robust sales growth.

Notably, Tesla is poised to lose its title as the world’s largest EV maker, based on annual sales, to Chinese automaker BYD, even though BYD has not entered the US market.

Meanwhile, Musk’s recent involvement at the wheel of the US government, helming the Department of Government Efficiency and spearheading mass layoffs of federal workers, has, among other controversies, sparked protests outside Tesla’s showrooms worldwide.

In May, Musk announced he would step down from his government position, raising hopes among investors that he will now have more time to work on his companies, which include SpaceX and X. But the billionaire’s feud with Trump, and likely upcoming attempts to woo voters to his new party, have thrust him back into the political arena.

Shares of Tesla nearly doubled after election day, setting a record high in mid-December thanks to investor expectations that an alliance between Trump and Musk would be beneficial for Tesla. But the controversy and blowback caused by Musk’s political activities sent shares tumbling, and they’ve lost more than a third of their value from since.

Two eight-year-old sisters from Dallas who had just completed 2nd grade. A beloved soccer coach and teacher. An Alabama elementary student away from home. These are a few of the dozens of victims lost in devastating flooding in Texas.

The flooding in central Texas originated from the fast-moving waters on the Guadalupe River on Friday, killing at least 89 people. Authorities say search and rescue efforts are still underway, including for campers missing from a summer camp for girls.

Hanna and Rebecca Lawrence

Hanna and Rebecca Lawrence were 8-year-old sisters from Dallas who were among the victims killed by the flooding at Camp Mystic.

The girls had just finished second grade, their parents said.

“Hanna and Rebecca brought so much joy to us, to their big sister Harper, and to so many others,” John and Lacy Lawrence said in a statement. “We will find ways to keep that joy, and to continue to spread it for them. But we are devastated that the bond we shared with them, and that they shared with each other, is now frozen in time. “

David Lawrence, the girls’ grandfather and former publisher of the Miami Herald, said “it has been an unimaginable time for all of us.” He said the girls gave their family, including their sister, joy.

“They and that joy can never be forgotten,” he said in a statement.

University Park Elementary School, where Hanna and Rebecca attended, said on its website that “numerous” students were in the Texas Hill Country during the flooding and had to evacuate. The school did not immediately respond to a message left Monday morning.

“We are deeply saddened to report the loss of multiple students, and our thoughts and prayers are with all of the families deeply affected by this unimaginable tragedy,” the school said on its site.

Reece and Paula Zunker

Reece Zunker was described as “a passionate educator and a beloved soccer coach” by Tivy High School in Kerrville, Texas.

“His unwavering dedication to our students, athletes, and the Tivy community touched countless lives and will never be forgotten,” the school posted online Sunday.

Paula Zunker was a former teacher at the school. “The care and impact she shared with her students continue to be felt, even years later,” the post said.

The couple’s young children, Lyle and Holland, were still missing, the school said.

The family had been staying at a river house in Hunt.

Tanya Burwick

The last time Tanya Burwick’s family heard from her was a frantic phone call about the floodwaters as she headed to work at a Walmart early Friday in the San Angelo area. When Burwick didn’t show up for work, her employer filed a missing persons report and sent a colleague to look for her.

Police investigating the 62-year-old’s disappearance found Burwick’s unoccupied SUV fully submerged later that day. Her body was found the next morning blocks from the vehicle.

“She lit up the room and had a laugh that made other people laugh,” said Lindsey Burwick, who added that her mom was a beloved parent, grandparent and colleague to many.

She and her brother Zac said the day was especially difficult because it happened on July Fourth as they were working at a fireworks stand that’s been in the family for generations. As word of Tanya Burwick’s disappearance spread, people from from Blackwell, a small community of about 250 people, showed up to the stand that’s run out of a trailer painted orange.

“People came to our aid,” Lindsey Burwick said.

Police in San Angelo said more than 12,000 houses, barns and other buildings have been affected by the floods in the community of roughly 100,000 people.

“We ask that the public continue to keep the Burwick family in their thoughts and prayers as they navigate this heartbreaking tragedy,” the San Angelo Police Department said in a Facebook post.

Jane Ragsdale

Jane Ragsdale, 68, devoted her life to the Heart O’the Hills Camp, a summer camp for girls in Texas Hill Country. She was a camper and counselor there herself in the 1970s before becoming a co-owner. By the 1980s, she was director of the camp in Hunt.

“She was the heart of The Heart,” the camp said in a statement. “She was our guiding light, our example, and our safe place. She had the rare gift of making every person feel seen, loved, and important.”

Since the camp was between sessions, no children were staying there when the floodwaters rose. The camp’s facilities, directly in the path of the flood, were extensively damaged and access to the site remained difficult, according to camp officials. The camp has been in existence since the 1950s.

Camp officials said Ragsdale would be remembered for her strength and wisdom.

“We are heartbroken. But above all, we are grateful,” the camp said. “Grateful to have known her, to have learned from her, and to carry her light forward.”

In a 2015 oral history for the Kerr County Historical Commission, Ragsdale, whose first name was Cynthie, but went by her middle name Jane, talked about how her father was also a camp director and how much she enjoyed her experiences.

“I loved every minute of camp from the first time I stepped foot in one,” she recalled.

Videos of Ragsdale strumming a guitar and singing to campers during a recent session were posted in a memorial on the camp’s Facebook page: “Life is good today. So keep singing ’til we meet, again.”

Sarah Marsh

Eight-year-old Sarah Marsh from Alabama had been attending Camp Mystic in Texas, a longtime Christian girls camp in Hunt where several others were killed in the floods. As of Sunday, afternoon, 11 children were still missing.

Marsh was a student at Cherokee Bend Elementary in suburban Birmingham.

“This is an unimaginable loss for her family, her school, and our entire community,” Mountain Brook Mayor Stewart Welch said in a Facebook post. “Sarah’s passing is a sorrow shared by all of us, and our hearts are with those who knew and loved her.”

He said the community — where about 20,000 people reside — would rally behind the Marsh family as they grieved.

Her parents declined an interview request Sunday “as they mourn this unbearable loss,” the girl’s grandmother, Debbie Ford Marsh, told The Associated Press in an email.

“We will always feel blessed to have had this beautiful spunky ray of light in our lives. She will live on in our hearts forever!” Marsh wrote on Facebook. “We love you so much, sweet Sarah!”

She declined further comment.

U.S. Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama also noted the girl’s tragic death.

“We continue to pray for the victims’ loved ones, the survivors, those who are still missing, and our brave first responders as search and rescue efforts continue in Texas,” she said in a post on social media platform X.

Blair and Brooke Harber

Sisters Blair and Brooke Harber, both students at St. Rita Catholic School in Dallas, had been staying alongside the Guadalupe River when their cabin was swept away, according to the school.

Pastor Joshua J. Whitfield of St. Rita Catholic Community, which shares a campus with the school, said the girls’ parents, Annie and RJ Harber, were staying in a different cabin and were safe. However, their grandparents were unaccounted for. Annie Harber has been a longtime teacher at the school.

“This tragedy has touched every corner of our hearts,” the church said in a statement Sunday.

Blair, who was enrolled in advanced classes, was involved in numerous school activities from volleyball and basketball to speech and drama. Brooke was a rising sixth grader and a student athlete in volleyball and lacrosse, among other sports. She also participated in speech and drama, according to the church.

Both were remembered for their kind hearts and warm personalities.

“We will honor Blair and Brooke’s lives, the light they shared, and the joy they brought to everyone who knew them,” Whitfield wrote in a Saturday letter to parishioners. “And we will surround Annie, RJ, and their extended family with the strength and support of our St. Rita community.”

The church held a special prayer service Saturday afternoon and offered counseling.

“Please keep the Harber family in your prayers during this time of profound grief,” Whitfield wrote. “May our faith, our love, and our St. Rita community be a source of strength and comfort in the days ahead.”

The health of U.S. children has deteriorated over the past 17 years, with kids today more likely to have obesity, chronic diseases and mental health problems like depression, a new study says.

Much of what researchers found was already known, but the study paints a comprehensive picture by examining various aspects of children’s physical and mental health at the same time.

“The surprising part of the study wasn’t any with any single statistic; it was that there’s 170 indicators, eight data sources, all showing the same thing: a generalized decline in kids’ health,” said Dr. Christopher Forrest, one of the authors of the study published Monday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has brought children’s health to the forefront of the national policy conversation, unveiling in May a much-anticipated “Make America Healthy Again” report that described kids as undernourished and overmedicated, and raised concerns about their lack of physical activity. But the Trump administration’s actions — including cuts to federal health agencies, Medicaid and scientific research — are not likely to reverse the trend, according to outside experts who reviewed Monday’s study.

“The health of kids in America is not as good as it should be, not as good as the other countries, and the current policies of this administration are definitely going to make it worse,” said Dr. Frederick Rivara, a pediatrician and researcher at the Seattle Children’s Hospital and UW Medicine in Seattle. He co-authored an editorial accompanying the new study.

Forrest and his colleagues analyzed surveys, electronic health records from 10 pediatric health systems and international mortality statistics. Among their findings:

— Obesity rates for U.S. children 2-19 years old rose from 17% in 2007-2008 to about 21% in 2021-2023.

— A U.S. child in 2023 was 15% to 20% more likely than a U.S. child in 2011 to have a chronic condition such as anxiety, depression or sleep apnea, according to data reported by parents and doctors.

— Annual prevalence rates for 97 chronic conditions recorded by doctors rose from about 40% in 2011 to about 46% in 2023.

— Early onset of menstruation, trouble sleeping, limitations in activity, physical symptoms, depressive symptoms and loneliness also increased among American kids during the study period.

— American children were around 1.8 times more likely to die than kids in other high-income countries from 2007-2022. Being born premature and sudden unexpected death were much higher among U.S. infants, and firearm-related incidents and motor vehicle crashes were much more common among 1-19-year-old American kids than among those the same age in other countries examined.

The research points to bigger problems with America’s health, said Forrest, who is a pediatrician at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

“Kids are the canaries in the coal mine,” he said. “ When kids’ health changes, it’s because they’re at increased vulnerability, and it reflects what’s happening in society at large.”

The timing of the study, he said, is “completely fortuitous.” Well before the 2024 presidential election, Forrest was working on a book about thriving over the life span and couldn’t find this sort of comprehensive data on children’s health.

The datasets analyzed have some limitations and may not be applicable to the full U.S. population, noted Dr. James Perrin, a pediatrician and spokesman for the American Academy of Pediatrics, who wasn’t involved in the study.

“The basic finding is true,” he said.

The editorial published alongside the study said while the administration’s MAHA movement is bringing welcome attention to chronic diseases, “it is pursuing other policies that will work against the interests of children.” Those include eliminating injury prevention and maternal health programs, canceling investments in a campaign addressing sudden infant death and “fueling vaccine hesitancy among parents that may lead to a resurgence of deadly vaccine-preventable diseases,” authors wrote.

Officials from the U.S. Health and Human Services Department did not respond to a request for comment.

Forrest said risks highlighted by the MAHA report, such as eating too much ultra-processed food, are real but miss the complex reality driving trends in children’s health.

“We have to step back and take some lessons from the ecological sustainability community and say: Let’s look at the ecosystem that kids are growing up in. And let’s start on a kind of neighborhood-by-neighborhood, city-by-city basis, examining it,” he said.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.