Closing Bell: Tesla Rallies, Centene Plunges, Intel Falls

On this episode of Stock Movers:

Listen for comprehensive cross-platform coverage of the US market close as heard on Bloomberg Television, Bloomberg Radio, and YouTube with Romaine Bostick, Scarlet Fu, Carol Massar and Matt Miller.

- Tesla (TSLA) shares rallied today after the carmaker posted a less drastic decline in vehicle sales than the most pessimistic analysts feared.The company delivered 384,122 vehicles during the last three months, down 13% from a year earlier. While that leaves Tesla in a deep hole to dig out from to avoid another annual drop, some investors were braced for a more than 20% plunge. The sales figures run counter to Elon Musk’s claim in mid-May that Tesla’s car business had recovered from an early-year slump driven in part by blowback over his work in the Trump administration. Sales could be further challenged toward the end of this year if Congress passes the president’s multitrillion-dollar spending bill that would eliminate tax credits for EV purchases.

- Centene (CNC) shares plunged after the health insurer shocked investors by withdrawing its profit outlook on precipitously rising risks from Affordable Care Act plans, sending shares plummeting the most on record. The company appears to have been badly caught off guard by the impact of US government actions. It’s an ominous sign for insurers, whose purpose is to price for risk but have lately been blindsided by it. Shares of Centene dropped more than 40% in New York on Wednesday, the biggest one-day drop since its initial public offering in 2001. Other insurer stocks including Molina Healthcare Inc. and Oscar Health Inc. and Elevance Health Inc. sank by double digits.

- Intel (INTC) shares fell as much as 6% during trading following a report that CEO Lip-Bu Tan is exploring a potential strategy shift in its foundry business that would entail no longer marketing certain chipmaking technology to external customers.

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