Fatality Fails to Dent Tesla Stock

The first fatality in a Tesla (TSLA) while in Autopilot mode doesn’t seem to have affected the market’s appetite for the company’s stock.

While the Dow and S&P 500 rebounded nicely with 3.2 percent gains last week, the D20 managed to only recover some of its Brexit loses by rising about 1 percent and closing Friday at 141.83. Gainers outnumbered losers 11 to nine as the index ended four consecutive weekly losses.

For the third week in a row, Mobileye (MBLY) was the D20’s leading price gainer. Positive vibes from its latest deal with Intel and BWM continue to propel the stock to levels not seen since October. Last week, Mobileye’s stock increased 13 percent to close at $47.11.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has opened an investigation into a fatal crash in May involving a Tesla Model S that occurred while its Autopilot feature was engaged. Despite that, Tesla’s stock was up $23.35 percent last week, gaining 12 percent and closing at $216.50.

Also, last week Volvo AB (STO:VOLV-B) increased its provision against a possible EU antitrust fine. The market reacted swiftly, knocking 8.60 SEK off its stock price and reducing it 9.3 percent to 84.3 SEK.

Visit the Driverless Transportation D20 Stock Index page to learn more about it and its component stocks.

Up and Comers:

Lyft looking for investors – hires Qatalyst Partners. Qatalyst recently played a part in Microsoft’s planned $26 billion purchase of LinkedIn. Lyft is a rideshare firm perhaps best known for the $1 billion stake made in January by GM, Didi Chuxing, a Saudi prince, and others. It was reported that investment series valued Lyft at $5.5 billion.

China rideshare firm Didi Chuxing made more news with a $400 million investment from Poly Group, a Chinese government real estate and trading firm. In May, Apple invested $1 billion in Didi which operates in more than 400 cities in China. It claims over 85 percent of China’s ride-hailing market and completes as many as 14 million rides per day.