Nov. 18 (UPI) — Stock in Tesla saw a jump Monday after a report indicated President-elect Donald Trump may seek to relax federal regulations on self-driving vehicles.
On Monday, stock shares in Elon Musk’s Tesla went up 8% to $346.81 after a Bloomberg report said Trump’s transition team is planning to design a federal U.S. Department of Transportation framework for the regulation of self-driving vehicles
In afternoon trading, stock for the company was up nearly 5% after the report’s release. This now brings Tesla’s market cap to $1.1 trillion.
The tech guru contributed more than $100 million to re-elect Trump.
It arrived nearly a week after Musk and ex-presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy were named to lead Trump’s new so-called “Department of Government Efficiency.”
Musk, who already holds billions of dollars in federal government contracts, is poised to gain even more wealth by such actions in a second Trump administration with a federal framework possibly representing a $1 trillion financial opportunity for Tesla.
“Musk’s significant influence in the Trump White House,” Wedbush analyst Dan Ives told Fortune on Sunday, “is already having a major influence and ultimately the golden path for Tesla around Cybercabs” in a world of Uber and Lyft.
Ives says he thinks Tesla is headed for a $2 trillion valuation.
The controversial South African-born billionaire played a key role in re-electing Trump and was an often-seen surrogate on the campaign trail and now is a central figure in the transition from outgoing President Joe Biden to Trump’s second term.
According to Ives, Musk’s business objectives are “now within reach with an emboldened Trump/Musk strategic alliance playing out in real-time and very in line with our thesis.”
Meanwhile, a Trump transition spokeswoman didn’t address the report directly other than to say the president-elect “will deliver on the promises he made during the campaign.”