Elon Musk’s trillionaire status at risk after drops in SpaceX and Tesla’s shares – business live

Key events

7m ago

Introduction: SpaceX share price fall hits Musk's wealth

Financial analyst Bill Blain of Windshift Capital sees signs that SpaceX could fall further, writing this morning:

Congratulations if you successfully “stagged” out of the SpaceX IPO at the $225 top last week.

Yesterday the reverse-rocket stock briefly broke lower than the $150 post-IPO opening price. The option market is bearish, hinting it could break $100 if the slide continues. There was clearly good money to be made playing the FOMO curve that erupted around the deal, but the secret of any good party is knowing when to bail-out.

The rapid pump’n’dump performance of SpaceX has triggered a reassessment of the whole Tech market’s value. What is real and what is hype in terms of real costs and achievable profits in AI?

Introduction: SpaceX share price fall hits Musk's wealth

Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy.

Elon Musk could soon be down to his last thousand billion dollars, after the share price of his recently floated SpaceX came under pressure this week.

Musk became the world’s first trillionaire this month when SpaceX floated on the stock market. But after a 16% drop in SpaceX’s shares on Monday, Musk’s wealth has declined to $1.1tn.

Monday’s drop alone wiped out more than $152bn from Musk’s net worth, according to Forbes estimates. And most of those who bought into SpaceX since it floated on 12 June are facing smaller losses.

SpaceX’s shares closed at $156 last night, slightly above the $150 at which they started trading on the 12th, but sharply below the record high of $225 set a week ago. The IPO was priced at $135, so everyone who took part is still in the money.

The weakness in the last week has dragged SpaceX’s value down from a peak of about $2.99tn to just over $2tn last night. That’s a fall of almost $1tn, or nearly one Musk.

Danni Hewson, head of financial analysis at AJ Bell, says:

SpaceX might have seemed charmed after its record-breaking IPO and subsequent rally, but it’s come down to earth with a bump over the past couple of days, with shares at one point falling below the opening price on its market debut.

“Post-IPO stocks often enter a period of volatility as the market gets to grips with the new entrant, some investors rush to cash out, and others assess at what price they are willing to jump in.

“For a stock like SpaceX, a lot of decision making might have been emotional and based on the anticipation of huge leaps forward in space exploration and utilisation, but investing should be something treated with clear eyes and patience, even when such huge numbers are involved.

Musk was also hit by a 5.8% drop in Tesla’s shares yesterday, as the tech sector was hit by a broad selloff in AI and semiconductor stocks.

The agenda

9am BST: IFO survey of Germany’s business climate

10am BST: House of Lords Financial Services Regulation Committee hearing on the consumer insurance market

10:15am BST: Treasury Committee hearing on the Financial Services and Markets Bill

Noon BST: US mortgage approvals data

3pm BST: US new home sales data for May