Tesla Battery Day, Twitter Jumps

John Divine
·2 min read

Stocks finished with gains on Tuesday, as the S&P 500 broke a four-day losing streak, adding 1.05%.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin both testified before Congress on Tuesday, with each supporting in principle further aid for hard-hit small businesses in the U.S.

Powell noted that much of the economic recovery since the depths of April has been driven by trillions in government stimulus and that there could be a delayed economic fallout if more aid isn't dispensed.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 140 points, or 0.5%, to end at 27,288.

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Tesla falls on Musk's comments. Shares of electric vehicle leader Tesla (ticker: TSLA) lost 5.6% on Tuesday in the lead up to Tesla's Battery Day and its annual shareholder meeting.

The market had been giddily anticipating Tesla's Battery Day announcements, predicted to advertise breakthroughs in battery technology. Wall Street, however, was a bit dismayed by Musk's hedging before the event, as he tweeted that high-volume production of the upcoming battery tech wouldn't occur until 2022, and even then there were expected to be shortages.

Delta delaying furloughs. Delta Air Lines ( DAL) pilots will have another month before they have to worry about furloughs. Delta had previously announced intentions to furlough more than 1,900 pilots come October, when federal aid for the airline industry expires.

The union representing Delta pilots got the carrier to commit to waiting until Nov. 1 before making a decision on pilot furloughs, allowing for more time to lobby Congress and negotiate with Delta management.

Twitter jumps. Despite little in the way of concrete news, shares of social media heavyweight Twitter ( TWTR) jumped nearly 7.1% on Tuesday, finishing as the single best performer in the S&P 500. One thing that should be good for Twitter if it lasts: the U.S. ban on video-sharing app TikTok.

Through the end of trading Tuesday, TWTR shares were up more than 33% in 2020.