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Hungry Index Funds Cram Tesla Into the S&P 500 at a Record High

  • Stock surges in runup to inclusion in the S&P 500 Index
  • Closing print is about 4% above its average price Friday
Almost 200 million Tesla shares changed hands in the regular session.

Almost 200 million Tesla shares changed hands in the regular session.

Photographer: Liesa Johannssen-Koppitz/Bloomberg
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Traders spent most of the year pushing up shares of Tesla Inc. in anticipation of surging demand from index funds when it entered the S&P 500. That trade had its climax Friday, as frantic purchases by passive managers drove the shares almost 5% higher just as markets closed.

Mechanical buying by index-tracking funds sent Tesla to a record $695 in the auction used by exchanges to finish trading, about $25 above its average price Friday. At the end of the day, Tesla shares closed at an all-time high.