Today’s Pickup: Tesla plans to raise $2 billion in investment

Good day,

In a filing, Tesla has mentioned that it plans to raise investment of up to $2 billion which includes $1.35 billion in convertible notes and $650 million in a new offering. Elon Musk has confirmed that he would be buying about $10 million of Tesla’s stock in the latest round, where a total of 2.7 million shares are being offered of which Musk would get 41,896 shares.

Notably, Tesla has spent nearly $2 billion in cash in the first quarter of 2019, which is on the back of the company having a disappointing car sales in Q1, leading to the company’s stock sink by nearly 17 percent in April. The effects of the fundraising announcement immediately rubbed off on the stock price, with it trading 4.8 percent higher after the details of this filing were revealed today.

Did you know?

In the month of March in the U.S., medium-size businesses, which have between 50 and 499 employees, added 145,000 jobs. Small businesses, which have 49 or fewer employees, added 77,000 jobs, while large businesses, those with more than 500 employees, added 53,000.

Quotable

“Fueling this e-commerce revolution is the intense competition we see between pure plays like Amazon and Noon…and the traditional retailers.”

– Adel Belcaid, Dubai-based consultant at A.T. Kearney, commenting on Amazon’s stiff competition with Noon, an UAE-based ecommerce startup, and Amazon’s bid to increase market share by launching its site in Arabic.

In other news

Lumber prices have unseasonable slump

Prices, which usually rise in the spring, are being hit hard by bad weather and a decline in home building. (The Wall Street Journal)

High-speed rail costs rise $1.8 billion in Central Valley

Construction must accelerate or the state of California risks losing billions in federal dollars. (The Mercury News)

The Uber I.P.O. is a moral stain on Silicon Valley

Ride-sharing was a good idea ruined by a deeply misguided start-up culture. (The New York Times)

GM confirms it’s making an electric pickup truck

General Motors CEO Mary Barra outlined plans of an electric pickup during a conference call with investors. (Jalopnik)

Volkswagen shrugs off 1 billion euro legal hit with higher SUV sales

Sales of higher-margin SUVs and cost cuts helped Volkswagen shrug off a 1 billion euro legal charge to meet first-quarter operating profit forecasts on Thursday. (Reuters)

Final thoughts

In a Reuters monthly survey, economists have mentioned that oil prices would continue to remain high, jacking up their projection from $67.12 per barrel of Brent crude in March to $68.57 now. Majority of the economists expect OPEC to continue its supply cuts till the end of 2019, but production would have to be increased to compensate for the fall in output from Venezuela and Iran.

With the U.S. on the verge of removing the waiver it provides some countries over Iranian oil import, global supply would likely fall by another 0.5-1 million barrels per day (bpd), thus consistently holding up the high pricing of crude oil. On the other end, the U.S. will be looking to reduce the oil price by increasing its shale oil output, which is anticipated to depress prices to an extent. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the crude oil output is expected to increase to 8.46 million bpd in May, helping bring the price of oil down by $1 by the end of the year.

Hammer down, everyone!