Tesla (TSLA) surged on Friday, capping a huge week for the EV maker as the stock hit its highest close in over two years. Optimism over CEO Elon Musk’s relationship with President-elect Donald Trump has sent investors into a frenzy, with Tesla’s market cap now topping $1 trillion.
To be fair, stocks overall have been hitting records, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average crossing 44,000 for the first time and the S&P 500 eclipsing 6,000. But the monster move in Tesla has been one for the record books, with the stock up a whopping 29% in just five days.
Tesla stock rose 8.2% on Friday to $321.22, hitting as high as $328.70 as the company achieved a trillion-dollar valuation for the first time in over two years. Only Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, and Meta are worth more, meaning the original “Magnificent Seven” has re-formed.
Massive moves both upward and downward are not new for Tesla, though recently the stock has been moving higher after early 2024 weakness. Better Q3 earnings and deliveries, and the promise of Tesla’s robotaxi Cybercab testing in earnest next year, have fueled optimism, even before this week’s Trump-inspired stock rally.
While Musk is in charge of companies like SpaceX (which includes Starlink) and X (formerly Twitter), Tesla investors have the most to gain — or lose — from Musk’s ties to Trump.
Threats of rolling back EV tax credits by a Trump White House and GOP-led Congress were thought of as headwinds to the Tesla volume growth story. Wall Street and investors are looking past that thorny issue, for now.
President-elect Donald Trump offers his hand to Elon Musk backstage during a campaign rally at the Butler Farm Show grounds on Oct. 5, 2024, in Butler, Pa. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) · Anna Moneymaker via Getty Images
“Tesla has the scale and scope that is unmatched in the EV industry, and this dynamic could give Musk and Tesla a clear competitive advantage in a non-EV subsidy environment, coupled by likely higher China tariffs that would continue to push away cheaper Chinese EV players (BYD,…
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