Dow Tops 30,000 For First Time; Tesla's Elon Musk Surpasses Bill Gates On Personal Wealth List
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF/CNN) -- It's been quite a month for San Francisco Bay Area tech guru Elon Musk. Space X has successfully launched a crew to the International Space Station and also lifted the Sentinel-6 satellite into orbit and now Tesla has helped fuel the stock market's historic climb.
Tesla, which is set to be added to the S&P 500 next month, surged to a new record high -- $548 a share in mid-day NASDAQ trading -- and is now valued at more than $500 billion.
With the climb, Musk's personal wealth has risen to over $127.9 billion. According to Bloomberg Billionaires Index that exceeds Bill Gates $127.7 billion.
Only Amazon's Jeff Bezos at $182 billion is ranked ahead of him and his wealth also jumped during Tuesday's stock market climb as his company's shares were up $20.98 in mid-morning trading to $3,119.
All the other FAANG stocks that fuel Silicon Valley were also up on the historic day.
Facebook was up $5.53 a share to $274 with CEO Mark Zuckerberg ranking No.5 on the Bloomberg wealth list at $102 billion. Apple was up less than $1 a share to $114.67.
Netflix was up $5 a share in mid-day trading to $481.59 a share. Co-founder Reed Hastings is No. 407 on the Bloomberg list at an estimated worth of $5.85 billion.
Google (Alphabet) was up $26.65 in mid-day to $1,761.51. Cofounders Larry Page was at No. 7 on the Bloomberg list at $81.3 billion while Sergey Brin was No. 8 at $78.7 billion.
Meanwhile, the Dow as a whole was up more than 400 points, or 1.4%, in late morning trading. The blue chip index hit a new all-time high in the process, finally topping the 30,000 mark.
The latest catalyst: It appears that a formal transition from President Donald Trump to President-elect Joe Biden is finally underway.
News came Monday that the General Services Administration is starting the so-called ascertainment process, which allows Trump administration officials to coordinate with the Biden team. And that follows more promising coronavirus vaccine developments on Monday, as well as sources confirming to CNN that former Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen will be Biden's nominee for Treasury Secretary.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq were both higher on Tuesday as well. So was the Russell 2000, an index that is home to smaller American companies that are expected to benefit from a rebound in the US economy.
Oil prices rallied as well, lifting big energy stocks like Occidental Petroleum and Marathon Oil.
Shares of travel related companies, such as airlines, cruise lines and hotels, also continued to rebound due to hopes of a more normal economy in 2021. Shares of Carnival, Delta and Marriott were all higher in early trading.
The euphoric trading frenzy for several momentum investments continued as well Tuesday.
Cannabis stocks Aurora, Tilray, Canopy Growth and Cronos also soared again Tuesday, extending their stellar run this month as investors bet that a Biden administration could seek to decriminalize marijuana at a federal level. Several more states also legalized recreational cannabis.
And cryptocurrency darling bitcoin continued to move closer to a record high. Bitcoin prices were hovering around $19,400 Tuesday -- just below their December 2017 peak of $19,783.
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