Tesla shares rose to a historic high on Wednesday, beating the electric car maker’s previous record from 2021, which was set after the post-election rush and renewed Wall Street enthusiasm for Elon Musk’s electric vehicle empire. This is due to the fact that stock hit a closing price of $424.77 more than doubling its previous peak of $409.97 on November 4, 2021. The electric car company’s 71% gain this year has been propelled more by the optimism generated with Donald Trump’s victory during the elections than its early performance woes. Record-Breaking Stock Surge For Tesla Tesla’s stock price rallied 38% in November, the best monthly performance since January 2023 and its 10th best month on record. The surge in Tesla’s market capitalization was fueled by investor optimism over Trump’s victory early last month, which has dramatically influenced the trajectory of the company’s stock. This increase in share value has surprised investors, especially since Tesla was off to a rocky start for the year. With a 29% loss in the first quarter of 2024, Tesla’s shares have bounced back considerably, recovering from their worst performance in over a year. The rise in Tesla’s shares has been termed as the “Trump bump” by many analysts. As Craig Irwin, an analyst of Roth MKM, had commented on CNBC’s Squawk on the Street, that “Musk’s genuine backing for Trump likely doubled the pool of enthusiasts and heightened credibility for an inflection in demand.” Irwin raised his price target of Tesla to $380 versus $85, after winning the election by Trump. Musk’s active involvement in Trump’s campaign and post-election strategies has further solidified the link between the two figures. In the lead-up to the election, Musk reportedly invested $277 million into pro-Trump efforts, focusing on swing-state operations aimed at voter registration. Additionally, Musk’s social media platform, X, became a vehicle for promoting Trump’s candidacy and further galvanizing Tesla’s support base. Musk’s Expanding Influence And Role Of AI Elon Musk ‘s influence does not seem to be dissipating anytime soon, especially after President Trump’s election win and his appointment as an adviser in the new administration. “Department of Government Efficiency,” led by former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, will supposedly be headed by Musk himself. This influential position is likely to give Musk leeway to oversee federal agency budgets, staffing, as well as push for the end of regulations that would really hinder Tesla’s growth. Musk’s position may affect Tesla significantly, especially on the technological advancement of its autonomous vehicles. A long-time advocate for autonomous driving, Musk shared in a Tesla earnings call last October his plan to use his political power to “get federal approval process for autonomous vehicles” and bypassing the state-by-state level approval system. Wall Street’s Brighter Future Ahead For Tesla Analysts have been growing more bullish on the prospects of Tesla as it continues its upward trajectory. Goldman Sachs upgraded its price target for Tesla, and the list of financial institutions that have upgraded their outlook on the stock continues to grow. In its report, Goldman analysts cited the market’s forward-looking approach towards Tesla, particularly with regard to its artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives. Other investment firms such as Morgan Stanley and Bank of America also released positive reports about Tesla, noting the company’s ability to cash in on newer technologies such as AI and autonomous driving. These positive reports have been strengthening investor sentiment, further fueling a price hike of the stock. Despite the dismal first half of 2024, Tesla’s third-quarter earnings report in October reported that revenue was up 8% year-over-year, narrowly missing analysts’ expectations, but the company did blow past profit estimates. Even more encouraging was Musk’s forecast for 2025: a 20% to 30% rate of vehicle growth, underpinned by “lower-cost vehicles” and the start of autonomy. Musk’s forecast was more positive than analysts had expected, which reflects a level of confidence in Tesla’s ability to adapt and thrive in an increasingly competitive market. As Tesla continues its journey in the electric vehicle sector, it will be interesting to see how the company will leverage its recent stock surge and the growing interest in emerging automotive technologies. ALSO READ | Donald Trump Earns Time’s ‘Person Of The Year’ Honor For Second Time: ReportsSANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy will miss Sunday's game against the Green Bay Packers with a sore throwing shoulder. Purdy injured his right shoulder in last Sunday's loss to the Seattle Seahawks . Purdy underwent an MRI that showed no structural damage but the shoulder didn't improve during the week and Purdy was ruled out for the game. Coach Kyle Shanahan said star defensive end Nick Bosa also will miss the game with injuries to his left hip and oblique. Left tackle Trent Williams is questionable with an ankle injury and will be a game-time decision. This will be the first time Purdy has missed a start because of an injury since taking over as the 49ers’ quarterback in December 2022. Brandon Allen will start in his place. The Niners (5-5) are currently in a three-way tie for second in the NFC West, a game behind first-place Arizona, and have little margin for error if they want to get back to the playoffs after making it to the Super Bowl last season. Purdy has completed 66% of his passes this season for 2,613 yards, 13 TDs, eight interceptions and a 95.9 passer rating that is down significantly from his league-leading mark of 113 in 2023. Allen has been mostly a backup since being drafted by Jacksonville in 2016. Allen last started a game in Week 18 of the 2021 season for Cincinnati and has thrown just three passes the last three seasons — including none since joining San Francisco in 2023. Joshua Dobbs will be the backup on Sunday. AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL
Kamala Harris lost but how weak of a candidate was she?
Saints QB situation remains cloudy as matchup with Washington nears
FOXBORO -- The New England Patriots were simply putrid on Saturday as the Los Angeles Chargers humiliated them, 40-7 , at Gillette Stadium. If you didn't think it could possibly get any worse for this team, it got worse on Saturday. Usually we try to dig up some positives in this space, but let's be completely honest: There were no "Ups" from New England's debacle. It felt like the Chargers were a big brother just toying with their younger sibling. They got just about anything and everything they wanted on Saturday, while the Patriots are still looking for answers. Drake Maye made a nice touchdown throw, but he also turned the ball over again. The Patriots' offense wasn't able to get anything going as the offensive line struggled throughout, and the team scored its only touchdown on a broken play. Meanwhile, the New England defense was carved up by Justin Herbert and company, as Los Angeles completely controlled the game. The end result was New England's worst loss of the season, and a second six-game losing streak in Jerod Mayo's first season. Somehow, the Patriots are a worse team now than they were when the season began. There has been no consistent improvement with this team from week-to-week, and they progressively got worse throughout Saturday's drubbing. Coming out of the bye week, the goal was for the Patriots to play well and build toward next season. While last week's loss to the Bills had some upside, it's now sandwiched between two blowout losses -- a 30-17 defeat in Arizona and Saturday's walloping on their home field. Outside of Maye, no one in New England should feel safe after Saturday's embarrassing result. It's the kind of loss that usually leads to wholesale changes in the offseason, though we'll see if the Krafts will agree with that sentiment after next week's regular-season finale against the Bills. Here are all the "Downs" from the latest embarrassment from the 2024 New England Patriots. UP and DOWN: Drake Maye OK, there is one single play to highlight before we head back to the darkness that was Saturday's defeat. This throw by Maye off a free play was beautiful. WHAT A PLAY POP 🤩 @DrakeMaye2 | @popshotta3 📺: NFLN pic.twitter.com/fLkx8YTgfV Did you enjoy that? Good, cause that's all the positivity we have from Saturday's loss. Maye looked like a rookie more on Saturday than he has throughout the season. He was sped up as the offensive line struggled to keep the Los Angeles pass rush away from him, and he had another horrendous turnover on a failed lateral/backwards pass. (Maybe rip those ones out of the playbook, Alex Van Pelt.) Maye also had a few key misses, as he finished 12-of-22 for just 117 yards. At least Maye didn't throw a pick this week for the first time since Week 8. But he also took a very unnecessary shot to the head at the end of a scramble early in the game, which knocked him out for a series. He can't be putting himself in those spots, and needs to learn when to just go down while scrambling. (At least he was much better at doing that the rest of the way.) Maye has just one more game in his rookie season, and then the pressure to fix these mistakes will really ramp up in 2025. DOWN: Antonio Gibson DIDN'T start for Patriots Before the game, Mayo said that Antonio Gibson would be starting in place of Rhamondre Stevenson, who lost another fumble last week in Buffalo. But when the New England offense took the field for the first time on Saturday, Stevenson was lined up in the backfield. Stevenson only got two carries for the afternoon while Gibson got a dozen. But why the change to start the game? Mayo wouldn't really say. "It's a coach's decision," Mayo said to a pair of inquiries. "I'll leave it at that." But why say anything before the game if there was a chance the game plan would change? It's just another instance of Mayo having to walk back something he said, though that usually waits until Monday. This time, Mayo couldn't even make it to kickoff without having something to walk back. It's fair to question is he has any control down in Patriot Place. DOWN: Pats' defense put no pressure on Justin Herbert Mayo should be feeling the heat because the team is 3-13, and because the Patriots defense has taken a huge step back throughout the season. The Pats generated zero pressure on Herbert throughout the game, and he carved them up for 281 yards and three touchdowns. There was nothing the Patriots could do against the Chargers on Saturday, as Los Angeles completely controlled the game from the get-go. The Chargers dominated the time of possession, holding the ball for 40:34 with the Patriots only managing a measly 19:26. Los Angeles ran 29 more offensive plays than New England, and outgained the Patriots to the tune of 428-181. The Patriots got their butts absolutely whooped on Saturday. While Mayo's seat is pretty hot at the moment, defensive coordinator DeMarcus Covington should be really worried about a potential call into the principal's office on Monday. DOWN: Third down How did the Chargers hold on to the ball for so long on Saturday? The Patriots' defense couldn't get them off the field, letting Los Angeles go 10-of-17 on third down and a perfect 2-of-2 on fourth down. The Patriots' offense was an abysmal 2-of-10 on third down, and 0-for-3 on their fourth-down tries. "No complementary football, and that's what you get," Mayo said after the loss. DOWN: Ladd McConkey was real good for Los Angeles Eliot Wolf could have drafted McConkey with the 34th pick in last year's draft, and he would have looked incredible with Maye this season. Instead, he's looked incredible with Herbert in Los Angeles, and on Saturday he torched the Patriots. McConkey consistently schooled veteran corner Jonathan Jones and caught eight passes for 94 yards, including two of Herbert's three touchdown passes. The Patriots drafted Ja'Lynn Polk and Javon Baker with the picks acquired in that draft swap with Los Angeles. Polk was targeted once on Sunday (which he didn't catch) and has just 12 receptions for the year. Baker also had just one target on Saturday, and is still looking for his first NFL reception. DOWN: Christian Gonzalez injured Second-year corner Christian Gonzalez has been another bright spot for the Patriots this season, but his day ended in second quarter on Saturday. Gonzalez was shaken up when he hit his head on McConkey while trying to bring down the receiver, and he was ruled out a short time later with a concussion. Even if Gonzalez clears concussion protocol before next Sunday, it'd probably be in New England's best interest to keep him out against the Bills. DOWN: Home Field advantage doesn't exist anymore The Patriots are now 1-6 at home this season, after going 1-7 at Gillette Stadium last season. They are just 10-23 at home over the last four seasons. The Patriots haven't had a winning season at home since 2020, when they went 5-3 in front of empty stands. Matthew Geagan is a sports producer for CBS Boston. He has been part of the WBZ sports team for nearly 20 years. He moved over to the web in 2012 and has covered all the highs (and a few lows) in Boston sports.
Braves urged to swing trade for $130 million ace if Juan Soto joins rival team | Sporting News