Stock Markets Fall as Tesla Prepares to Join S&P 500; Share Move Hits Virgin Galactic
Investors took a pause on Friday morning from the record run on Wall Street, with major market benchmarks giving up modest amounts of ground. Most investors have their eyes squarely focused on Washington, where they're counting on legislators and government officials to find an agreement to help the American economy get through the rollout period for coronavirus vaccines amid new record cases of COVID-19 across the nation. Just after 11:30 a.m. EST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI) was down 198 points to 30,106. The S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) fell 23 points to 3,699, and the Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX: ^IXIC) lost 32 points to 12,733.
One stock that wasn't falling was Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA), which is going through a momentous occasion after the market closes Friday afternoon. For Virgin Galactic Holdings (NYSE: SPCE), however, news that current shareholders will have a massive block of stock potentially available for sale was a downer for the share price.
Shares of Tesla were surprisingly calm in Friday morning trading, with the price up about 1.5% as of 11:30 a.m. EST. That doesn't mean there won't be fireworks later in the day, though, as Tesla prepares to formally join the S&P 500 Index.
Source Fool.com
