Tesla climbs in premarket trading as stock reels from Trump-Musk drama

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U.S. President Donald Trump and Elon Musk attend a press event in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 30, 2025.
Nathan Howard | Reuters

Tesla shares climbed in U.S. premarket trading Friday after tensions between CEO Elon Musk and President Donald Trump fueled a $152 billion rout for the stock a day earlier.

Shares of Tesla were up 4.6% in premarket trading as of about 8 a.m. ET. Analysts cited a Politico report that Trump had scheduled a call Friday with Musk to broker a truce. However, a senior White House official told NBC News Friday that Trump is “not interested” in a call with Musk.

“Musk needs Trump and Trump needs Musk for many reasons and these two becoming friends again will be a huge relief for Tesla shares,” wrote Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives in a note Friday morning. “We will be monitoring the situation closely today but we believe Tesla shares are way oversold on this news.”

Musk and Trump have come to verbal blows in recent days as the Tesla chief’s tenure as head of the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency came to an end last week.

Trump initially praised Musk’s handling of DOGE, an initiative started by the Trump administration that aimed to cut costs within the federal government. However, he changed his tone on Thursday after comments from Musk criticizing Trump’s so-called “big, beautiful bill,” a sweeping package of tax and public spending cuts.

Musk slammed the bill on Thursday calling it a “disgusting abomination” — to which Trump replied that though he and Elon “had a great relationship,” he doesn’t know “if we will anymore.”

Tesla shares tanked 14% following the public clash, wiping $152 billion from the electric vehicle maker’s market capitalization and putting it below the $1 trillion benchmark.