Tesla experiences a surge in overnight trading with the support of Trump-backer Musk.

Tesla experiences a surge in overnight trading with the support of Trump-backer Musk.
Tesla experiences a surge in overnight trading with the support of Trump-backer Musk.

Overnight, shares of surged as investors speculated that a potential Donald Trump election victory would benefit the major backer and CEO of the carmaker, Elon Musk.

Tesla shares jumped 8% in overnight trading on Robinhood brokerage platform.

In the previous month, Musk contributed nearly $75 million to America PAC, a super political action committee he founded earlier in the year to back the Republican presidential candidate.

If elected, Trump has pledged to name Musk as the leader of a government efficiency committee. In a speech at Trump's Madison Square Garden rally in October, Musk stated that he could reduce the federal budget by $2 trillion in this capacity.

"The government is inefficient and wasting your money, but we will fix it," he said at the rally. "We will free you from government interference and financial burden."

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Despite rising about 1.2% this year, the stock has significantly underperformed the broader market, with the S&P 500 achieving 21.2% year-to-date gains as of Tuesday's close.

On Tuesday, Tesla ended its six-day losing streak by advancing 3.5%.

by Sean Conlon

Markets