Tesla's June Rebound Hits A Speed Bump
Stock prices fell for a second consecutive day, though losses were modest. The Dow and S&P 500 indexes fell 0.17 percent and 0.20 percent respectively and the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.38 percent thanks to weak technology stocks. The Entrepreneur Index closed the day down 0.11 percent. It was a rough ride for the technology sector. Trade-sensitive chip-maker NVIDIA Corp had the biggest decline in the sector, dropping 3.02 percent. The Trump administration confirmed yesterday that no preparations were being made for a resumption of trade talks with China at the end of the month. Facebook shares also fell 1.72 percent after the Wall Street Journal reported that the company had found emails linking CEO Mark Zuckerberg to Facebook's controversial privacy practices. Tesla's recent strong run hit a big bump today after the company's shareholder meeting yesterday. The stock was up nearly twenty percent in the last ten days but fell 3.61 percent a day after CEO Elon Musk gave his annual review and outlook on the company to investors.
Energy stocks were down after the price of oil fell 4.1 percent today due to worries about trade, global economic growth, and swelling crude oil inventories in the U.S. Hess Corp. was down 2.22 percent and pipeline manager Kinder Morgan fell 1.92 percent. The apparel makers are pin-balling along with sentiment on the trade outlook. Up strongly yesterday, they were down today. Gap Inc. (-2.52 percent), L Brands (-1.53 percent) and Ralph Lauren Corp. Alexion Pharmaceuticals had the biggest gain on the Entrepreneur Index today, jumping 3.0 percent. The drug-maker's stock had a torrid start to the year, but fell nearly twenty percent in the last two months. It is still up 23.9 percent on the year. Other solid gains on the index today included Fedex Corp. The Entrepreneur Index collects the top 60 publicly traded companies founded and run by entrepreneurs. The entrepreneurial spirit is a valuable asset for any business, and this index recognizes its importance, no matter how much a company has grown.
Except for a wee bit of initial turbo lag, it pulls strong the whole way through no matter what gear you鈥檙e in. No, the power isn鈥檛 as linear as the naturally aspirated flat six, but you鈥檒l still be impressed by the Boxster S鈥檚 turn of speed. Turbos generally won鈥檛 sound as good as naturally aspirated cars, fine. But Porsche has worked some magic with this engine because when equipped with the optional sport exhaust, it is one of the most savage sounding four-cylinder engines I鈥檝e ever heard. 718 sound like the legit sports car it is. Even at idle, it鈥檚 addictive. A lot of people are saying it sounds like a Subaru. WRONG. It sounds like a Porsche. It hits a lot of the same tones the flat six did, perhaps not as loudly, but my god, vicious is the only way I can describe it. The way it cracks and burbles is exactly what I look for when evaluating how a sports car should sound. The only issue with this fierce sounding exhaust is that stop-start becomes really obnoxious.
I just turn it off. How Does She Drive? Our tester had Porsche鈥檚 snappy seven-speed PDK, but, thankfully, you can still get it with three pedals. 3,200 cheaper. Still, even with the PDK, the Boxster is entirely involving to drive. With that PDK, the Boxster S is capable of getting to 60 mph in 4.2 seconds, which is actually faster than a base 911. Add on the optional Sport Chrono package, and it shaves the time to four seconds flat. A fun cue taken right out of the 918, the circular drive mode selector on the steering wheel also has a button in the middle that acts like a 鈥減ush to pass鈥?feature. When you push it, it gives you maximum responsiveness for 20 seconds so you have all the car鈥檚 prowess to pull off a quick pass. It鈥檚 fun to use and the countdown in the gauge cluster makes it feel even more like a video game. The steering is also a lot quicker than it used to be and uses the same setup a the 911, so it鈥檚 responsive, delicate and accurate.