Musk-Trump Feud Distracts Tesla Traders Ahead of Robotaxi Launch
After years of anticipation and broken promises, Tesla Inc. said its robotaxi service is tentatively set to roll out later this month. Options traders aren't ready to buy the hype yet.
Traders had braced for the milestone to come on June 12 — before Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said late Tuesday the company is aiming for a June 22 launch date — and their positioning in the stock's options signaled that few expected any fireworks. Options traders priced in a 5.4% move in the stock for the week ending June 13, according to data compiled by Tom Keen, options strategist at Piper Sandler. That's 24% below the stock's average realized weekly move over the past 12 months.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Miami Herald
41 minutes ago
- Miami Herald
Elon Musk's entourage forces drastic move from the government
When Elon Musk joined President Donald Trump's White House as the head of the non-governmental Department of Government Efficiency, he did not have to go through the same vetting process as other cabinet members. Presidential cabinet members must be vetted and confirmed by the U.S. Senate, but "special government employees" like Elon Musk and top economic advisor Peter Navarro do not. Related: Elon Musk and Donald Trump's war of words forces allies to pick side But those roles are also limited in their scope and what they can do for the president. Musk's time at the White House concluded earlier this month, probably permanently, after the 130 days a presidential advisor is allowed to work for the president in any calendar year expired. Since then, Musk has done his best to burn every connection he has to Trump and the White House, criticizing his main legislative agenda and even saying that the reason the White House hasn't released the government files on Jefferey Epstein, as was promised during the campaign, is because the president is featured in the report. Despite the unfettered access Musk and DOGE have to millions of Americans' personal data, he was never vetted. At least not by this administration. Image source: Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images Last year, as foreign nationals came to visit Elon Musk at his various properties, U.S. government agents monitored their movements. In 2022 and 2023, several government agencies, including the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security, tracked foreign nationals who visited Musk in an investigation. According to a Wall Street Journal report, the feds were watching to see if the people visiting Musk from countries in Eastern Europe were trying to influence him. Of the five companies he runs, SpaceX has access to the most sensitive government data and contracts and has had unprecedented access to top government officials, according to the Journal. Related: Elon Musk's feud with Trump is hurting an unexpected investment People familiar with America PAC, the political action committee Musk started to help elect Trump, said they had to institute extensive vetting to keep foreigners in Musk's entourage out of their business. Musk has been in regular contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin since late 2022. His contact with foreign nationals has even forced his lawyers to advise him against seeking higher security clearance, according to the report, due to fear that he'd have to explain his relationships or have his clearance revoked entirely. Elon Musk became the first lieutenant to break ranks following his departure from the inner circle of the West Wing. Last month, Musk made it a point to wear a red hat emblazoned with the words "TRUMP WAS RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING" to a cabinet meeting. The gesture was part of the Trump administration's ritual of having the members say something effusive about the president at the beginning of each cabinet meeting. However, some distance from the White House seems to have changed Musk's mind about just how effective the president's policies have been in achieving what seems to be Musk's biggest political goal: balancing the budget. To get his way, Musk has gone full scorched earth, suggesting that the reason the federal government has not released its file on Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted pedophile who befriended some of the world's richest and most powerful people, is because President Trump is featured in the files. Elon Musk has been taking shots at the White House recently about the "One Big, Beautiful Bill Act" that Trump is currently trying to get through Congress. The bipartisan Congressional Budget Office expects the bill to add between $2.4 trillion and $3.8 trillion to the U.S. deficit over the next decade. Related: Elon Musk's feud with Trump is hurting an unexpected investment The Arena Media Brands, LLC THESTREET is a registered trademark of TheStreet, Inc.
Miami Herald
41 minutes ago
- Miami Herald
New super-black paint could fix satellite light pollution problem
By Dean Murray British researchers are working to solve the problem of Elon Musk's reflective satellites by painting them black. A new partnership between Surrey NanoSystems and the University ofSurrey is aiming to tackle what has become a major concern for astronomers worldwide. They are working on using Surrey NanoSystems's newest product, Vantablack 310, which is a super-black coating. When Vantablack 310 is applied to a surface, it reflects only 2% of incoming light, meaning it absorbs the remaining 98%. This high level of light absorption makes the coated surfaces appear extremely dark, helping to minimise the unwanted brightness from satellites that can disrupt the work of stargazers. More than 8,000 low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites already orbit Earth, and projections estimate a rise to 60,000 by 2030, partly driven by the development of mega-constellations. To combat this problem, satellite operators have begun experimenting with mitigation strategies, including dark coatings and changes to satellite position, though the negative impact on ground-based measurement persists. Surrey NanoSystems, with a heritage in ultra-black technologies, says their new solution, Vantablack 310, is a handleable, customer-applied coating, resistant to the challenging LEO environment. The technology will be trialled on the Jovian 1 mission, scheduled to launch in 2026, which will be the first satellite mission from JUPITER – the Joint Universities Programme for In-Orbit Training, Education and Research. One side of a shoebox-sized CubeSat will be coated with Vantablack 310, marking the first UK-led initiative to explore solutions for reducing satellite brightness. The initiative aims to not only improve space sustainability but also demonstrate the efficacy of Vantablack 310 as a hull-darkening solution. Dr. Keiran Clifford, Senior Technologist and project lead at Surrey Nanosystems, said: "Our latest coating technology, Vantablack 310, offers super-black performance across a wide range of viewing angles, while remaining robust to the challenging LEO environment. "We're proud to be working with our partners at the University of Surrey to deliver innovations in the satellite sector, ensuring sustainable and equitable access to a night sky for all." Researchers from the University of Surrey are developing ways to evaluate the experiment from Earth. The post New super-black paint could fix satellite light pollution problem appeared first on Talker. Copyright Talker News. All Rights Reserved.
Yahoo
42 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Tesla's Texas robotaxi launch: Expect it to be 'low-key'
Tesla's (TSLA) robotaxi will tentatively launch in Austin, Texas, on June 22, according to CEO Elon Musk. CFRA analyst Garrett Nelson thinks this launch will be more of a "low-key" event compared to its big "Cybercab" debut last year. IN the video above, you can hear more of Nelson's take on the launch and why he thinks the stock has some near-term headwinds. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Catalysts here. What are you expecting from this robo taxi launch? Yeah, thanks for having me. We think it's going to be a lot more low-key than the robo taxi day that Tesla held in Los Angeles last October, which was on a Hollywood movie set, very different type of production. I think this is going to be much more low-key. October or sorry, June 22nd is a Sunday, which is very unusual to have a major product launch, but I don't think that's a coincidence. So, I think it's, you know, expectations are high coming into this, but I think the key is really what happens in the three to six months following this event. So, initially, it's only going to be maybe a dozen or so model wise with the most recent version of full self-driving installed on them, operating in a geofenced area of Austin with the vehicle being supervised remotely as well. So, I think a lot of people are going to say, well, why is this so special? You know, what is Tesla doing here that Waymo isn't already doing with the robo taxis that they are operating in Austin. And I think people are going to look at the size of the geofenced area. Waymos is 37 square miles. How quickly they can expand that geofenced area, and then how quickly they can increase the number of vehicles on the roads and also then expand to other markets. What is the time framing for that scaling that would lead you to then raise your own rating and expectations on the stock? Well, Elon Musk thinks they can have maybe a thousand or so on the road by the end of this summer. It seems a bit optimistic, but we'll see. Our main concerns with this stock right now are number one valuation, given this really dramatic rebound since their first quarter earnings release in April. The stock is up, you know, about 100 points from when they reported earnings, only six or seven weeks ago. So, it's valuation at north of 110 times our EPS estimate for next year, but also ongoing market share losses across their three major markets of China, Europe, and the US. That has continued. You look at the China data, Tesla sales were down 15% in May. Meanwhile, total EV sales were up 38% in China. So, in Europe and the US, it's kind of a similar story. So, those near-term issues really concern us here. We know we're right around the corner from their second quarter deliveries report, which will happen in about three weeks. I don't think that's going to be a great release. And so there's some major near-term challenges and valuation being an issue for us also. In addition to the Big Beautiful Bill, in which Tesla will be losing their tax credits, not only on EVs, but for energy storage and solar products as well.
