Transcript:
Conway Gittens: I’m Conway Gittens reporting from the New York Stock Exchange. Here’s what we’re watching on TheStreet today.
The New York Stock Exchange was buzzing this morning, with President-elect Donald Trump on-hand to ring the opening bell. However, there was a minor stock market retreat on the back of disappointing inflation numbers. Investors also took note of the biggest jump in weekly jobless claims in two months. 242,000 new unemployment applications were filed for the week ended December 7th.
Related: Elon Musk’s SpaceX skyrockets in value
In other news - a new milestone for the world’s richest man. Elon Musk is now the first person ever to be worth more than $400 billion, according to calculations done by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
The distinction is due in no small part to a surge in Tesla shares since the re-election of Donald Trump. Musk was a fervent backer of Trump during the campaign and continues to work with Trump’s transition team. Musk’s foray into politics has already reaped rewards as he was able to turn Trump from a vocal EV naysayer to a vocal EV supporter. Investors expect more to come.
Musk is Tesla’s biggest shareholder and has seen the stock surge 65 percent just since the November election -giving a boost to his wealth.
But that’s not the only source of his increasing fortune - at least on paper. SpaceX saw its valuation jump 67 percent between June and December, according to Bloomberg. His artificial intelligence startup xAI has more than doubled in value, as reported by the Wall Street Journal. All said, The Bloomberg Billionaires Index puts him roughly $136 billion richer than he was before the election, which includes a disputed Tesla pay package that’s now worth about $120 billion.
The only person close to being as rich as he is - is Jeff Bezos, who is running a distant second at $250 billion.
That’ll do it for your Daily Briefing. From the New York Stock Exchange, I’m Conway Gittens with TheStreet.
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