Friday Premarket Newsmakers: Tesla, Twitter, Faraday Future, Bitcoin

Investing

Published: May 12, 2023 7:33 am

Premarket action on Friday had the three major U.S. indexes trading higher. The Dow Jones industrials were up 0.42%, the S&P 500 up 0.41% and the Nasdaq 0.23% higher.

The preliminary University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Report for May is due to be released shortly after markets open on Friday. April’s final report came in with a score of 63.5, and economists expect a first look in May to come in at 62.9. Over the past five months, consumer sentiment has remained in a range of 59.7 to 67, a fairly narrow range that indicates concern about inflation and how it could affect personal finances.

Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) and Twitter CEO Elon Musk said Thursday that Twitter will have a new chief executive in about six weeks. In keeping with his “I know more than you about everything” style, Musk did not reveal who Twitter’s new leader will be. The Wall Street Journal, citing the ever-popular “people familiar with the matter,” said Twitter’s new chief will be Linda Yaccarino, currently chair of global advertising and partnerships at NBCUniversal, part of Comcast.

Musk’s comments lifted Tesla stock by about 2% Thursday, and the shares traded higher again in Friday’s premarket. The general take is that now that Musk will not be distracted by Twitter, he can get back to pushing out the Cybertruck, the semi and updated versions of Tesla’s product line. Well, maybe not distracted as much. Musk said he will remain executive chair of Twitter, as well as its chief technology officer.

Online car rental and car-sharing firm Getaround Inc. (NASDAQ: GETR) announced after markets closed Thursday that it will acquire the assets of HyreCar for $9.45 million. HyreCar provides car rentals for gig-economy drivers who work for services like Uber, Lyft and Door Dash. Getaround’s share price doubled in Friday’s premarket, trading at around $0.67.

Ultra-luxury electric vehicle maker Faraday Future Intelligent Electric Inc. (NASDAQ: FFIE) reported first-quarter results after markets closed Thursday, and shares traded up more than 11% in Friday’s premarket at around $0.22. Its diluted net loss per share was $0.07, well above the single analyst estimate calling for a loss per share of $0.43.

The company did not report any revenue but did report net income of $6.5 million, thanks to a change in its fair value measurement from a loss of $149 million in the first quarter of last year to a gain of $94.92 million this year. The fair value gain is the result of “mark-to-market measurements of the secured convertible notes and warrants recorded in the first quarter this year driven by the decline in the Company’s stock price.” The company announced earlier this week that it received a financing package totaling $100 million in unsecured convertible notes from a group of investors and current shareholders.

Faraday plans to deliver its first vehicle, the FF91, by the end of June. While the price has not been officially announced, industry observers are expecting the car to cost around $200,000.

Bitcoin dropped more than 4% in Asian trading Friday and traded down about 2.4% early Friday at $26,388. Coin watchers are keeping a close eye on negotiations between President Biden and House Republicans over raising the U.S. debt ceiling. There appears to be some sentiment that Bitcoin will prove to be a safe haven for investors if the U.S. defaults on its national debt. Let’s hope we don’t have to find out.

Here is a look at how the markets fared on Thursday.

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Eight of 11 market sectors closed lower on Thursday. Energy (−1.24%) and utilities (−1.14%) had the day’s worst losses. Communications services (1.65%) and consumer cyclicals (0.55%) posted the day’s largest gains. The Dow closed down 0.66%, the S&P 500 down 0.17% and the Nasdaq up 0.18% on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) gained more than 4% Thursday to lead the tech mega-caps higher, while the Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) dropped nearly 9% to sink the Dow.

Two-year Treasuries fell by one basis point to end Thursday at 3.89%, and 10-year notes fell by four basis points to close at 3.39%. In Friday’s premarket, two-year notes were trading at around 3.91% and 10-year notes at about 3.41%.

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