Tesla skids 4% on Musk tweet that Hertz deal not signed

Shares of Tesla Inc. tumbled around 4% in premarket trading after its CEO and founder Elon Musk tweeted that a deal to sell 100,000 cars to Hertz had not been signed, suggesting it was not final

SILVER SPRING, Md. -- Shares of Tesla Inc. tumbled around 4% in premarket trading after its CEO and founder Elon Musk tweeted that a deal to sell 100,000 cars to Hertz had not been signed, suggesting it was not final.

Shortly after the market close yesterday, an account called “Tesla Silicon Valley Club” tweeted an image of a graph showing Tesla's 8.5% gain Monday and thanked Musk. Musk replied “You're welcome! If any of this is based on Hertz, I’d like to emphasize that no contract has been signed yet.”

Last Monday, Hertz announced that it was buying 100,000 electric vehicles from Tesla, one of the largest purchases of battery-powered cars in history. Financial details of the deal — such as how much Hertz was paying per car or the total price — were not revealed at the time.

News of the deal triggered a rally in Tesla’s stock, driving the the world’s most valuable automaker’s market value over the $1 trillion mark for the first time. Before Tuesday's dip, shares had risen about 33% in the week since the deal was announced.