Tesla’s Big Rally Drives the Nasdaq Higher

Tesla shares rocketed higher, helping send the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite to a third consecutive session of gains.

The Nasdaq rose 0.1%. The S&P 500 added less than 0.1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 0.1%.

U.S. stocks have rebounded in recent sessions after notching their worst week in more than a year. A stretch of earnings from companies such as Visa and Texas Instruments has helped push stocks higher, though some of the excitement that permeated the market earlier in the week fizzled Wednesday. Investors have also started sifting through earnings this week from some members of the Magnificent Seven group of technology behemoths.

“The earnings backdrop has been very consistent with that broader story of growth remaining reasonably strong,” said Bill Merz, head of capital markets research at U.S. Bank Wealth Management.

Under the surface, there were some much larger moves in trading Wednesday. Tesla reported a disappointing quarter late Tuesday, but investors clung to Elon Musk’s comments on making less-expensive electric cars, sending the shares up 12%. Texas Instruments shares jumped 5.6%, giving a boost to some semiconductor stocks, too.

Many investors were closely watching a record $70 billion auction of 5-year notes in afternoon trading. Demand ended up in line with other recent sales, pulling yields from their highs earlier in the session.

Investors have been tracking a series of jumbo-sized auctions, worried the deluge of new supply will rattle other parts of the market. Later this week is a sale of 7-year notes, along with another $386 billion or so of bonds in May.

Some investors said the volatility in bond yields has been driving turbulence in stocks, with stocks giving up some of their early gains in midday trading. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 4.652%, up from 4.597% the prior session. Yields rise as bond prices fall.

“As long as rates stay high, the equity market will face some pressure,” said Zhiwei Ren, a portfolio manager at Penn Mutual Asset Management.

Write to Gunjan Banerji at [email protected]