Elon Musk attracts a lot of attention. The CEO of Tesla (TSLA) has emerged as a hyperactive entrepreneur with a reputation built on the success of the electric car company he built, Space X and other ventures.
This week, Musk and Tesla will be a center of attention. On Thursday, Musk and Tesla will unveil the plans for the new Robotaxi at the Warner Bros. studio in Los Angeles.
Don’t miss the move: Subscribe to TheStreet’s free daily newsletter
It is a key event for Musk and the company which has had its struggles. The shares fell 44% between the end of 2023 and April 22 on worries about sales stagnating. Since April 22, the shares are up 76% and actually up 0.64% for 2024.
The Tesla event is just one of a busy week of corporate events, investor meetings, economic reports and the unofficial start for the third-quarter earnings season.
Jobs report cheers investors
Stocks ended the past week with small gains, thanks mostly to investors cheering a very bullish jobs report from the Labor Department on Friday.
The S&P 500 ended the week up 0.2%. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.1%, and the Dow Jones Industrials found its way to a 0.1%.
Related: Goldman Sachs strategist lays out surprising view on stocks
Three issues seemed to weigh on stocks:
-
Worries on whether the growing violence in the Middle East will erupt erupt in a major war. Oil prices jumped 9% on the week. Retail gas prices continued to move lower.
-
A surprising rise in interest rates after the Federal Reserve’s Sept. 18 decision to cut its key interest rate by a half-percentage point.
-
The growing national tensions over the Presidential election.
Tesla’s event is important, especially for Tesla
Tesla shares, despite their huge gain since April — including a 22% gain in September — nonetheless ended the week down about 4%.
The September gains reflected more confidence Tesla had regained its mojo ahead of the Robocar presentation .
Elon Musk has been pushing for the Robotaxi idea for months, arguing the idea would revolutionize transportation, particularly in urban areas.
It would boost Musk’s contention that Tesla is an artificial intelligence company. Many analysts shakes their heads at the idea, saying Tesla is a car company.
More Tesla:
Its Robotaxi (and cars and Cybertrucks, for that matter) are really the physical manifestation of a vast network that grabs data from every Tesla vehicle and uses it to provide information to drivers on the safest and most efficient routes to a destinations.
The risk Musk faces this week is that he proves unable to convince customers, Tesla fans and investors the vehicle will work, although Waymo’s taxi seems to work in San Francisco.
Many details are unclear, such as:
-
When a production model will be available.
-
Who might want to operate a Robotaxi. Uber, maybe, owners of the vehicles or even Tesla itself.
-
How a rollout might work.
Tesla is not pioneering robotaxies. Waymo, owned by Google-parent Alphabet (GOOGL) , has been offering service in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix, Ariz.
There have been glitches and accidents. In May 2023, a Waymo vehicle in autonomous mode in San Francisco killed a dog, according to a Guardian report.
Read the full article here