Tesla (TSLA) stock cut back below a key technical level early Thursday, following a four-day, almost 18% rally. The pullback also followed comments on Wednesday made on X, formerly Twitter, by Chief Executive Elon Musk in support of an antisemitic post.
X
Several TSLA bulls joined the chorus criticizing the Tesla chief’s language. Meanwhile, IBM (IBM) decided Thursday to pull advertisements from X following reports ads appeared next to posts supporting Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Apple (AAPL) also chose to pause ads on the social media platform, Axios reported Friday.
For investors the question is, did the controversy cause and/or amplify the pullback? Or was the move a technical response to normal profit-taking by investors?
Late Wednesday, Elon Musk endorsed a post from “The Artist Formerly Known as Eric,” an X user with 4,800 followers. The post echoed long-standing antisemitic tropes, saying that Jewish people stoke hatred of white people and support allowing “hordes of minorities” into the U.S.
“You have said the actual truth,” Musk responded on X. The Tesla chief executive added that the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a Jewish advocacy group, “unjustly attacks the majority of the West” and that he is “deeply offended by ADL’s messaging and any other groups who push de facto anti-white racism or anti-Asian racism or racism of any kind.”
On Thursday, following the comments and as controversy over Musk’s comments brewed, Tesla stock opened 1.5% lower on average volume. Shares ended Thursday down 3.8% to 233.59 on a 13% rise in volume. That left the stock back below the stock’s 50-day moving average, giving back the key level of support overtaken a day earlier.
Tesla stock dipped nearly 2% early before advancing 0.4% to 234.47 in above average volume Friday during market action.
TSLA Bulls Call Out Musk
Musk’s comments were denounced by many as antisemitic, including by the White House and some long-term, high-profile Tesla bulls. The concern for TSLA stock investors is that Musk weakens the Tesla brand, which is intertwined with his own…
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