Tesla shares bounce after record plunge

(C) Reuters. The Tesla logo is seen on a car in Los Angeles

By Chuck Mikolajczak

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Tesla Inc (O:TSLA) shares bounced on Wednesday, a day after the electric car maker suffered the biggest one-day percentage drop in the company’s history.

Shares jumped 6.88% a day after falling more than 21% as the company was passed over for inclusion in the benchmark S&P 500 (SPX) index. The decline on Tuesday chopped off about $80 billion in Tesla’s market value, or more than the combined value of fellow automakers General Motors (N:GM) and Ford Motor (N:F).

The stock has been on a meteoric climb this year, rising about 400% through Sept. 4, including a gain of more than 74% in August as expectations grew the company would be included in the S&P 500 after its second-quarter earnings cleared a hurdle for inclusion in the index.

S&P late Friday announced it would include online craft seller Etsy Inc (O:ETSY), semiconductor equipment maker Teradyne Inc (O:TER) and pharmaceutical technology company Catalent Inc (N:CTLT) to the S&P 500 instead.

Tuesday’s decline pushed the stock down to a closing level of $330.21, just above its 50-day moving average of $329.63, a key technical support level.