The first quarter of 2023 is in the books, and investors were generally pleased with the moves higher in key market benchmarks during the period. As Wall Street prepared for the first day of the new quarter, however, they seemed less than certain about the future direction of the market, as futures on key stock indexes were mixed.

One stock that dragged on Nasdaq futures was Tesla (TSLA -0.59%), which reported its latest delivery and production numbers over the weekend. However, the news was better at Teck Resources (TECK -0.80%), as the mining company appears to have gotten some interest from a would-be buyer.

Is Tesla losing its charge?

Shares of Tesla were down about 4% in premarket trading on Monday morning. The electric vehicle pioneer reported its first-quarter figures for production and delivery volumes, and investors seemed more worried about the future pace of growth than they were pleased to see sizable gains from past periods.

Tesla reported that it produced 440,808 electric vehicles during the period from Jan. 1 to March 31. That figure included 19,437 of its older Model S and X EVs, and 421,371 of its newer Model 3 and Y mass-market vehicles. On the delivery side, Tesla put 422,875 EVs into the hands of its customers -- 10,695 Model S and X vehicles and 412,180 Model 3 and Y EVs.

From a growth perspective, bulls and bears could each cast the numbers in their own perspective. Looking at gains year over year, production figures in the first quarter of 2022 were just 305,407, working out to an annual growth rate of 44%. Deliveries in the year-ago period of 310,048 led to 36% more EVs getting to Tesla customers in the first quarter of 2023.

However, comparisons with Tesla's numbers from three months ago suggested slower gains. Production rose by just 1,107 units compared to the fourth quarter of 2022, although deliveries jumped by nearly 17,600 EVs.

Looking ahead, investors are still counting on Tesla to grow production and delivery volumes by roughly 50% annually. Yet the automaker has started to fall short of those guidelines, and that could put continued pressure on the stock in the short run until Tesla can make things right with greater capacity from new facilities.

Teck glitters

On the other hand, shares of Teck Resources climbed 11% in premarket trading early Monday. The mining company reported that it rejected a would-be acquisition offer, but that still had shareholders speculating about whether Teck might accept a more lucrative bid if it came in the near future.

Teck's board of directors released a statement saying that it had received an unsolicited acquisition proposal from industry giant Glencore. The Teck board referred to the proposal as "opportunistic," criticizing what it saw as a move that would unnecessarily expose shareholders to the uncertainties of the thermal coal industry.

Teck has been working to break itself up into two separate companies. Teck Metals would hold the company's copper-mining assets, becoming a pure-play growth business with cyclical exposure to the base metals market. Meanwhile, Elk Valley Resources would become an independent company, focusing on metallurgical coal production for use in making steel.

Teck responded to Glencore that it doesn't want to sell itself to the mining giant and sees more value in its planned split. Moreover, it believes that Glencore's coal business is fundamentally different in focus from its own, and Teck questioned the synergy-related cost savings a combination could produce.

The all-stock offer from Glencore still motivated a rise in Teck shares. Nevertheless, it doesn't appear that Teck would seriously consider a bid unless it were significantly higher than what Glencore offered.