Wall St ends slightly higher in shortened session, Tesla jumps

Wall Street’s main indexes ended with slim gains in a holiday-shortened session on Monday, helped by a surge in Tesla and strength in bank shares as the second half of the year kicked off on a subdued note.

Tesla (TSLA.O) shares jumped 6.9% as the electric vehicle maker said it delivered a record number of vehicles in the second quarter.

Shares of major banks gained after the companies raised dividends as they sailed through the Federal Reserve’s annual health check. Wells Fargo (WFC.N) shares rose 1.7%, Citigroup (C.N) shares climbed 1.5%, while the S&P 500 banks index (.SPXBK) ended up 1.5%.

Trading volumes were lighter than average as the stock market closed at 1 p.m. ET ahead of the July 4th Independence Day holiday on Tuesday.

“You have got a lot of people that are just not in the market today,” said Chuck Carlson, chief executive at Horizon Investment Services in Hammond, Indiana. “Nobody is really placing any big bets on either side of the market right now.”

This report’s information was first seen on REUTERS; to read more, click this link.