NEW YORK — Tesla stock was roughly flat in Friday's midday trading, changing hands near $312.80 and holding its ground after a week dominated by merger headlines. Shares in Tesla — NASDAQ: TSLA — slipped about 0.4% from the prior session, keeping the stock in the low-$310s rather than extending either direction.
There was no single dramatic catalyst on Friday. Instead, $TSLA traded on a mix of steadying sentiment after a merger scare, a friendly read-across from a rival's earnings, and lingering caution left over from last week's second-quarter report.
The Move
As of midday trading, $TSLA sat near $312.80, down modestly on the session after opening slightly higher. The stock has been consolidating in the low-$310s all week, well below its 52-week high of $498.83 and above the 52-week low of $297.38, with a market capitalization of roughly $1.16 trillion. You can track the live quote on Yahoo Finance, Google Finance, the Wall Street Journal, and Nasdaq.
The Why
The day's most important development was Elon Musk's flat denial of a Wall Street Journal report that Tesla is weighing a sale of its China business to enable a merger with SpaceX. Musk called the story "absurdly fake news," and the rejection appeared to steady sentiment: rather than pricing in a disruptive restructuring of Tesla's most productive factory, investors treated the denial as reassurance that Giga Shanghai stays put. For readers following the saga, our full coverage of Musk's denial of the China-sale report lays out the details.
A second, quieter tailwind came from the sector. Rivian topped Wall Street estimates with its own second-quarter results, a reminder that EV demand remains resilient and a friendly backdrop for $TSLA. Broader indices were steady, removing macro pressure as a driver on the day.
