Apple Stock Hits a Fresh Record High, Tesla Shares Surge Again
Apple stock hits a record after a report says the company is about to offer self-driving cars by 2025. Tesla shares rally again.
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Principal Points
- Apple stock hits a record high of $160.55 a share after a report says self-driving cars are coming
- Tesla shares renew their upside momentum Friday as they jump over 3.7% to $1,137.06 apiece
Apple Shares Hit a Record High on Self-Driving Cars
Shares of Apple notched a record high Friday when a report said the company is stepping up efforts to create self-driving cars. The news quickly boosted Apple’s share price. As a result, the stock closed Friday higher by 1.7% to $160.55 a share.
In addition, Apple remains well-bid early Monday in pre-market trading hours. In more detail, Apple is planning to launch autonomous vehicles by 2025, a Bloomberg report says. Further, the cars would be fully electric and equipped with self-driving capabilities. In other words, human intervention would not be required.
Tesla Stock Gains 3.7% Friday as Shares Rally Again
In the meantime, the market leader in electric cars, Tesla, remains years away from offering fully autonomous cars. However, that doesn’t stop investors from piling into the company’s stock.
Tesla shares renewed their upside climb on Friday when the share price skyrocketed 3.7% to close at $1.137.06 apiece. The electric-car maker’s valuation this month has been roiled by Elon Musk’s efforts to make good on his promise. More specifically, to sell as much as 10% of his Tesla holdings, or around 17 million shares.
So far, the billionaire CEO has cashed in roughly $10 billion worth of Tesla stock over the past two weeks. That makes up about half of what he should sell to meet his 10% goal.
Despite Mr. Musk’s selling spree, traders and investors maintain their appetite for the company’s stock. This said, Tesla is still up over 55% this year and floats above $1 trillion in market capitalization. Going further back to January 2020, Tesla is up a staggering 1,300% to current market price.
What’s the Big Picture for Traders?
In the wider financial markets, US stocks closed mostly higher on Friday while futures float up early Monday. With this in mind, investors are showing mixed reactions toward current stock valuations. Last week, tech stocks became fashionable again after a bumpy ride for a few months while real-economy sectors were gaining.
Against this backdrop, some market participants have begun to doubt the rally’s durability as warnings signs emerged. For one, the Federal Reserve will withdraw $15 billion from its monthly stimulus as soon as this month. More precisely, over 10% of Fed’s $120-billion boost to the US economy will be removed.
On this note, the US central bank is meeting on Dec. 14-15. During the meeting, Fed officials will discuss the first step in the so-called tapering, or reducing, monetary stimulus.
Also, recent inflation numbers cast a shadow over the economic expansion as higher prices pressure consumers and businesses. As a result, supply-chain issues are currently weighing on companies’ financial results for this holiday quarter.
What to Watch in the Crypto Markets?
The cryptocurrency market remains hot as digital assets continue swinging wildly. Further, the price of bitcoin on Sunday peaked above $60,000 per coin. The original cryptocurrency, however, declined for the week after seven straight weeks of gains.
Despite the drop, crypto buyers acted quickly and bought the dip at levels near $55,500 per bitcoin. After a strong weekend for the orange coin, the price is now floating $57,500.
In crypto-related news, El Salvador announced over the weekend it is building the first-ever bitcoin city. The place will feature a giant Bitcoin symbol and will be shaped in a circle, like a coin. More importantly, it will collect no taxes. Instead, it will be entirely powered by a volcano.
To achieve this, the government of El Salvador will issue bonds worth $1 billion. Half of them will go to buy more bitcoin, while the other half will be converted to US dollars.