Is Elon Musk's Clash With the SEC a Big Deal for Tesla Stock? It Doesn't Seem That Way.
The electric car company stock rose over 5 percent today.
By Andrew Osterland •
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
The sobering testimony of chief U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer before the House Ways and Means Committee today left investors cold.
On the U.S.-China trade negotiations, Lighthizer said that much still needed to be done before an agreement between the world's two biggest economies could be reached. He also said much more would need to be done after any deal was signed. The Dow and S&P 500 indexes were down 0.28 percent and 0.05 percent respectively, while the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.07 percent. The Entrepreneur Index™ was up 0.19 percent on the day.
Tesla was the biggest reason. Investors shrugged off Elon Musk's latest run-in with the SEC and sent the stock up 5.67 percent today -- the biggest gain on the Entrepreneur Index™. Yesterday, the SEC asked a court to find Mr. Musk in contempt of an agreement made between Tesla, Musk and the SEC last fall that included heightened oversight of Musk's tweets. Last week, he posted his expectation for Tesla's vehicle production in 2019 and later tweeted a correction. He also changed his Twitter handle to Elon Tusk today. Tesla shares are down 5.4 percent so far this year.
The sobering testimony of chief U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer before the House Ways and Means Committee today left investors cold.
On the U.S/China trade negotiations, Lighthizer said that much still needed to be done before an agreement between the world's two biggest economies could be reached. He also said much more would need to be done after any deal was signed. The Dow and S&;P 500 indexes were down 0.28 percent and 0.05 percent respectively, while the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.07 percent. The Entrepreneur Index™ was up 0.19 percent on the day.
Tesla was the biggest reason. Investors shrugged off Elon Musk's latest run-in with the SEC and sent the stock up 5.67 percent today -- the biggest gain on the Entrepreneur Index™. Yesterday, the SEC asked a court to find Mr. Musk in contempt of an agreement made between Tesla, Musk and the SEC last fall that included heightened oversight of Musk's tweets. Last week, he posted his expectation for Tesla's vehicle production in 2019 and later tweeted a correction. He also changed his Twitter handle to Elon Tusk today. Tesla shares are down 5.4 percent so far this year.
Shares in clothing-maker Under Armour Inc. continued their impressive recent run, rising 3.68 percent today. They are up 27.5 percent so far this year in part due to impressive overseas growth making up for weak sales in North America.
Danaher Corp. continues to get rewarded for its $21.4 billion acquisition of General Electric's bio-pharma business. The stock surged 8.5 percent when Danaher announced the deal two days ago and was up a solid 2.58 percent today, setting a new 52-week high in the process.
Other gains on the Entrepreneur Index™ included Gap Inc. (2.05 percent), Alexion Pharmaceuticals, (2.04 percent), and Capital One Financial, (1.68 percent).
It was a relatively quiet day in the technology sector with most of the thirteen tech stocks on the Entrepreneur Index™ posting small gains or losses. TripAdvisor Inc. had the biggest gain, rising 1.67 percent and social media network Twitter had the biggest loss, falling 1.93 percent.
Retailer O'Reilly Auto Parts posted the biggest decline on the Entrepreneur Index™ today, falling 2.67 percent. The stock is underperforming the market so far this year with a 6.7 percent gain, but it is up 54 percent in the last twelve months.
Other notable declines on the index today included Wynn Resorts, (-2.1 percent), homebuilder D.R. Horton Inc. (-1.38 percent), and truck-maker PACCAR Inc. (-1.31 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.
