What happened
Shares of electric car pioneer Tesla (TSLA 4.96%) had tanked by 2% as of 11 a.m. ET Wednesday. There wasn't any actual negative news driving the stock down.
In fact, I'd say it was the absence of news -- and not today, but last night -- that is weighing on Tesla today.
Image source: Getty Images.
So what
Specifically, I'm talking about the absence of any mention of Tesla in the State of the Union address last night.
In an hour-long address to the nation, last night President Joe Biden covered a range of topics: the conflict in Ukraine, measures to combat rising inflation rates in the U.S., and even the creation of a new federal agency -- ARPA-H, the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health -- to research potential cures for cancer.
In discussing his plans to help the American economy recover from COVID-19, the president noted a surge in "companies ... choosing to build new factories here, when just a few years ago, they would have gone overseas." In the automotive industry in particular, Biden singled out Ford Motor Company and General Motors for special mention.
"Ford is investing $11 billion in electric vehicles, creating 11,000 jobs across the country," said the president, adding that "GM is making the largest investment in its history: $7 billion to build electric vehicles, creating 4,000 jobs in Michigan."
Now what
Ford and General Motors stocks are both booking significant gains today, by the way, up several percentage points apiece on the kind words.
Elon Musk is predictably peeved. In a note out on Twitter released mere minutes after the perceived presidential diss, the Tesla CEO pointed out that his company has created 50,000 electric cars jobs in the U.S.
Tesla has created over 50,000 US jobs building electric vehicles & is investing more than double GM + Ford combined
-- Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 2, 2022
[fyi to person controlling this twitter]
Regardless of Tesla's success, the continued failure of the president to acknowledge Tesla's existence -- and the presumed hint that future clean energy subsidies from the government might be tailored to favor Ford and GM over Tesla -- is making itself felt on Tesla's stock price today.
