NEW YORK — Tesla closed out the trading week on a high note, and with US markets shut over the weekend, the last completed session still tells the story. In Friday's session, Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) finished at $362.86, up 5.14%, or $17.73, from Thursday's close of $345.13. It was one of the stock's strongest single-day gains in weeks, and it left $TSLA within striking distance of its intraday high.
The catalyst was regulatory. On Thursday, Nevada's Transportation Authority cleared Tesla, Alphabet's Waymo and Uber to operate commercial robotaxi services in Clark County, with Tesla winning by far the largest allocation — up to 5,000 driverless vehicles in its first year. Investors read the approval as tangible proof that Tesla's autonomous ride-hailing ambitions are moving from promise to paid deployment, a theme that has increasingly anchored the rising analyst odds of a broader Tesla-SpaceX combination and the bull case around Musk's empire.
What Drove the Move
The robotaxi news did not arrive alone. On the same day, reports confirmed Tesla will show its all-electric Semi at an international transportation expo in Germany, signaling a European launch for the heavy truck. Separately, fresh data showed Tesla now controls about 59% of the US EV market, its highest share since 2023. Together, the headlines reinforced a narrative that Tesla's growth story spans autonomy, commercial vehicles and its core EV dominance — the multi-engine thesis Wall Street has been building around the stock.
The rally also rode a constructive broader tape. The S&P 500 ($SPY) and Nasdaq Composite ($QQQ) each closed up 0.43% Friday, and EV peers moved higher alongside Tesla, with Rivian gaining 6% and Ford adding 3%.
The Market Data
Tesla — NASDAQ: TSLA — ended Friday at $362.86, a gain of 5.14%, on volume of about 59.2 million shares, well above its roughly 42.1 million-share three-month average. The move lifted Tesla's market capitalization back toward $1.4 trillion. Shares traded in a Friday range of $346.90 to $366.50 and sit within a 52-week band of $297.38 to $498.83. Investors can track live quotes on Yahoo Finance, Google Finance, WSJ and Nasdaq.
