Elon Musk Says He's Through With Twitter, as Facebook and Tesla Drive Entrepreneur Index™ Higher Facebook is getting a rousing welcome to the crypto-currency world.
By Andrew Osterland •
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The social media giant is reportedly going to unveil its own digital currency -- GlobalCoin -- this week and investors love the idea. Facebook shares were up more than two percent on Friday and another 4.53 percent today on the news. For now, other crypto-currencies like Bitcoin have been rising as well, as investors anticipate Facebook's entry into the arena will lead to greater adoption and usage rates of digital currencies generally.
The rest of the technology sector was broadly positive with Netflix, up 3.21 percent, posting a particularly good gain. Cloud service and content provider Akamai Technologies was the notable exception in the sector, dropping 2.59 percent.
The strong showing by tech stocks led to a 0.62 percent rise in the Nasdaq Composite index today. The Dow and S&P 500 indexes were both up just 0.09 percent. The Entrepreneur Index™ rose 0.37 percent on the day.
Tesla had the best showing on the index, jumping 4.49 percent after CEO Elon Musk said -- in a tweet -- that he had deleted his Twitter account. Musk has had several run-ins with the Securities and Exchange Commission over his tweets on Tesla-related matters. It was unclear if his Twitter account had actually been deleted. The stock is up 25 percent in the last two weeks.
Alexion Pharmaceuticals and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals had solid gains today, rising 1.87 percent and 1.88 percent respectively.
All nine REITs on the Entrepreneur Index™ were up today as interest rates dipped modestly. Simon Property Group (2.22 percent), and Macerich Company (1.77 percent), both focused and malls and shopping center properties, were up the most.
Tyson Foods had the biggest decline on the Entrepreneur Index™, falling 4.13 percent on worries about flooding in the Midwest. Meat producers as a whole were down sharply, as the large amounts of flooded farmland this year could raise the costs of corn and soybeans to feed the livestock. Tyson is nevertheless up 47 percent so far this year.
Related: Facebook Stock Rises as Company Prepares to Unveil Its Cryptocurrency
Brown-Forman Corp was down 2.45 percent. Shares in the producer of Jack Daniels and other liquors have had a volatile year thanks to the rise in trade tensions. Whiskey is a favorite target for retaliatory tariffs by foreign countries. The stock, however, is up nearly ten percent in June and 15.3 on the year.
Other declines on the Entrepreneur Index™ today included asset managers BlackRock (-1.53 percent), and Franklin Resources (-1.5 percent). Business services provider Cintas Corp. was also down 1.73 percent.
The Entrepreneur Index™ collects the top 60 publicly traded companies founded and run by entrepreneurs. The entrepreneurial spirit is a valuable asset for any business, and this index recognizes its importance, no matter how much a company has grown. These inspirational businesses can be tracked in real time on Entrepreneur.com.
