Tesla Joins S&P 500 as an Instant Heavyweight

After a turbulent 12 months that saw Tesla’s share price soar by more than 700 percent, the world’s most valuable car maker was added to the S&P 500 index on Monday. Tesla was by far the largest addition ever to the S&P 500, causing a trading avalanche in the run-up to its entry. On Friday alone, more than 220 million Tesla shares changed hands as index funds tracking the S&P 500 built up their positions in the stock.

As the following chart shows, Tesla joined the market cap weighted index as an instant heavyweight. Its current market cap of $616 billion places the company among the top 10 companies included in the S&P 500. With the first five spots all taken by major tech companies, Tesla currently slots in behind Facebook in sixth position.