Tesla surges on new auto announcement, lifting Nasdaq

Tesla shares rocketed higher early Wednesday, lifting the Nasdaq after the carmaker's surprise announcement about new vehicles offset disappointing financial results.

Shares of Elon Musk's electric vehicle company surged more than 10% as it pledged to "accelerate" production of more affordable autos, reassuring investors bemoaning lower profits and the company's fuzzy strategic outlook.

Musk "finally stepped up as the adult in the room and laid the foundation for Tesla's growth," said analysts at Wedbush.

About 20 minutes into trading, the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index was up 0.9% at 15,834.09.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.1% to 38,475.50, while the broad-based S&P 500 advanced 0.3% to 5,087.19.

After a dismal run last week, US stocks have risen the last two days, bolstered by generally solid earnings and relief that there was no escalation in tensions between Iran and Israel over the weekend.

Key earnings later Wednesday will come from IBM, Facebook parent Meta and Ford.