The stock market has been full of volatility lately, but investors are starting to feel more confident about what the future might bring. Even with soaring interest rates, geopolitical strife, and the prospects for an extended period of inflation and slowing economic growth, the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC 0.10%) posted solid gains on Monday, and futures contracts on the Nasdaq were up another 25 points Tuesday morning to 14,395.
One key to the Nasdaq's success over the past several years has been Tesla (TSLA 12.06%), and the electric vehicle pioneer was set to celebrate another key milestone in its growth on Tuesday. Meanwhile, shares of Okta (OKTA -0.65%) fell sharply as news reports suggested the possibility of an adverse event that, if genuine, could pose a threat to its business model.
Image source: Tesla.
Tesla startet in Deutschland
Tesla shares were up about 1% in premarket trade, clawing back a bit more of the losses that had taken the EV automaker's stock down nearly 40% since early November. Today's news came from Germany, and while there wasn't any huge surprise in Tesla's announcement, it still marked what will be an important day for the company.
Thirty lucky Tesla customers will take delivery of the first vehicles manufactured at the company's new Giga Berlin-Brandenburg production facility in Gruenheide, just outside the German capital. Tesla will be delivering Model Y vehicles with a base cost of almost 64,000 euros and range of roughly 320 miles.
The plant-opening celebration comes after long delays in getting Tesla's factory through the German regulatory process. After facing opposition from some public officials, however, Tesla managed to move forward, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is expected to be among government leaders attending the opening event.
Tesla hopes eventually to build 500,000 vehicles at the German plant, which could outpace leading automotive players like Volkswagen. More importantly, the foothold in Europe will make Tesla more efficient in making deliveries to customers across the continent and potentially boost its market share considerably. Given how important EVs are to European consumers, that's a move that should continue to help Tesla's growth for years to come.
Did Okta get breached?
On the downside, shares of Okta were down almost 8% in premarket trading Tuesday. Reports of a possible breach could spell big trouble for the cybersecurity authentication specialist if they turn out to be genuine.
Okta said that it was investigating reports that hackers had broken into its internal IT infrastructure, having posted screenshots to support their efforts. The hackers apparently targeted Okta customers specifically, and third-party cybersecurity experts seemed to believe that the screenshots indicated a genuine breach.
However, Okta's initial conclusion was that it's likely the reported breach stemmed from a known attack in January, which Okta says it was able to contain. The company is hopeful that the screenshots come from that attack and don't indicate any further attempts to break into Okta's tech infrastructure.
Obviously, for a company whose mission it is to protect high-profile subscribers from cyberattacks, any successful breach poses a threat to customer confidence and future sales. Investors will be watching this incident closely as more information comes in to see what it means for Okta's future.
