Tesla stock was up in premarket trading Wednesday as investors were forced to consider—again—what conflict between CEO Elon Musk and the Securities and Exchange Commission means for shares of his electric-vehicle maker.

Tesla’s stock surges ahead of Inauguration Day, as investors bet on CEO Elon Musk’s ability to influence Federal rule making.

Key Takeaways Major U.S. indexes surged at midday Wednesday after several big banks reported strong quarterly results and a key measure of inflation came in softer than anticipated.Bank of New York Mellon,

Tesla's stock was rallying 5% in recent trading, and has now run up 72.8% since the election. CEO Elon Musk's cozying up to Trump has provided a $587.83 billion boost to the EV giant's market cap since the election,

Producer price data signals softer inflation, lifting Dow. Nasdaq, S&P 500 under pressure as Nvidia and Meta fall. CPI report looms for further insights.

Shares of electric vehicle makers Tesla ( TSLA 5.97%), Rivian ( RIVN 3.94%), and Aehr Test Systems ( AEHR 15.39%) rallied on Wednesday, up 5.2%, 4.7%, and 15.8%, respectively, as of 11:30 a.m. ET.

The Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq rose Friday on the last trading day of Joe Biden's presidency as the stock market braces for change under Donald Trump.

Musk has been camping out at Mar-a-Lago, aiming to bend the president-elect's ear, and the market is hopeful that the Trump administration could streamline rules around autonomous vehicles (AVs) that will make it easier for Tesla to deploy its new Cybercab and lead the transition to AVs.

Investors are appraising Trump policies' likely impact on stocks on the last trading day before the inauguration.

Stocks closed sharply higher Friday, sending the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average to their biggest weekly gains since the week of the November presidential election.

The S&P 500 was 0.9% higher in early trading and on track for its first winning week in the last three. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 308 points, or 0.7%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.5% higher.

Technology stocks struggled across the board on Monday, including declines among all but one of the Magnificent 7 firms and a big hit to quantum computing stocks.