Tesla stock recovers after Elon Musk tweets price is ‘too high’

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk rarely holds back on Twitter, frequently using his direct stream to 33.9 million followers to share his thoughts large and small. Lately, that has included his decision to sell off most of his possessions, details about his newborn child, and his take on the United States’ response to coronavirus.

It has also included one particular head-scratcher of a tweet on the morning of Friday, May 1: “Tesla stock price is too high imo.”

The market agreed with his seemingly off-the-cuff comment, and the price of Tesla stock fell more than 10% by the end of the day, dropping from $781.88 at close on April 30 to $701.32 by the close of May 1. All told, it wiped $15 billion off of the company’s value.

The apparent backlash to Musk’s peculiar comment was short-lived, however. Tesla stock regained much of its ground on Monday and Tuesday, and was back above that April 30 price as of close on Wednesday.

Tesla stock shot up more than 5% on Friday to finish at $819.42, due to word of a plan to reopen car production yesterday afternoon at its Fremont, California factory. 

However, Alameda County has since shot down that plan, according to CNBC, telling Tesla that its plan did not meet the requirements to resume production during the coronavirus shutdown.

“We have informed Tesla of all of the conditions that must exist for phasing in the safe reopening of various sectors of the economy and the community,” reads a statement from the Alameda County Public Health Department. 

“Tesla has been informed that they do not meet those criteria and must not reopen. We welcome Tesla’s proactive work on a reopening plan so that once they fit the criteria to reopen, they can do so in a way that protects their employees and the community at large.”

We’ll see whether the false start dampens enthusiasm for Tesla stock on Monday and continues its recent roller-coaster trajectory.

Amusingly, Bitcoin managed to play a part in Elon’s stock price rank. The @Bitcoin account on Twitter replied, “Bitcoin price is too low imo.” Elon replied with an illustration of an anime-styled heroine adorned in Bitcoin logos and wrote, “How much for some anime Bitcoin?”

Musk certainly isn’t the only one talking about Bitcoin on Twitter lately: social media frenzy around the cryptocurrency has hit a fever pitch ahead of next week’s halving event. Assuming anime Bitcoin costs the same as regular Bitcoin, Musk will have to pay a pretty penny right now.