Tesla Jumps After Musk Tweets to Promote Product Announcement

(Bloomberg) -- Tesla Motors Inc. shares jumped after Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk tweeted that the electric-car maker will have a product announcement at noon California time.

Tesla jumped 2 percent to $227.45 at 11:53 a.m. after rising as much as 2.3 percent, the biggest intraday gain in two weeks. The shares had slumped 7.1 percent this year through Monday while the Russell 1000 index rose 6.8 percent. 

The company has been under pressure since the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration revealed in late June that it opened an investigation into a fatal Florida crash, the first death involving Tesla’s driver-assistance features known as Autopilot. The company’s sale of stock after that accident is being probed by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Wall Street Journal has reported.

At the same time, second-quarter deliveries were less than initially projected, and Tesla trimmed its full-year forecast. The smallest and youngest publicly held U.S. automaker this month opened a flagship store in San Francisco, citing the “young and urban” consumers drawn to the company’s more affordable Model 3 sedan, which is scheduled to go into production next year.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jamie Butters in Southfield, Michigan, at jbutters@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jamie Butters at jbutters@bloomberg.net, John Lear