Elon Musk has exercised the final batch of a package of vested Tesla Inc. stock options that have underpinned several weeks of share dealings by the chief executive. Mr. Musk on Tuesday converted more than 1.5 million options due to expire in August 2022 into stock and sold more than 934,000 shares to cover associated taxes, according to regulatory filings. The Tesla boss has now exercised more than 22.8 million stock options since the transactions began last month. That total represents all of the vested options that would have expired next year, which Mr. Musk earned under a 2012 compensation package. The transactions have boosted Mr. Musk’s holding in Tesla from around 170.5 million shares to more than 177 million shares. After setting the investment plan, Mr. Musk last month polled Twitter users about whether he should sell 10% of his Tesla stock; people on the social-media platform that voted endorsed the idea of a sale. The chief executive began exercising Tesla stock options and selling shares in the company on Nov. 8. Mr. Musk has sold around 15.7 million shares since then. How many shares constitute fulfilling his 10% pledge depends on how Mr. Musk defines his ownership stake. Mr. Musk, who is compensated by Tesla in stock awards and doesn’t accept a cash salary from the company, last week said on Twitter that “there are still a few tranches left, but almost done.” Mr. Musk has a net worth of around $279 billion, making him the richest person on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Tesla’s shares slumped after Mr. Musk began his transactions last month. The stock, which lost 0.2% on Wednesday closing at $1,082, is down more than 10% from the day Mr. Musk took the Twitter poll.

On Wednesday, the SMI lost 0.3 percent to 12,927 points. Among the 20 SMI stocks, 13 price losers and 7 winners faced each other. Turnover was 16.81 (previously: 15.18) million shares. Sika rose 0.6 percent, displaying a year-to-date performance of 58 percent. Richemont gained 0.4 percent after a 75 percent increase so far this year. AMS fell 1.2 percent. Owner Temasek capped its stake, according to a shareholding announcement to the Swiss stock exchange SIX. Participants reported speculation that the Singapore sovereign wealth fund could exit altogether. Financial stocks were noticeably weak. UBS lost 0.5 percent, Credit Suisse 1.4 percent and Zurich Insurance 0.5 percent.

European stocks were mixed Wednesday in quiet trading over the holiday period, as investors remained optimistic despite rising Covid-19 cases. The Stoxx Europe 600 index fell 0.1% to 487.8 points. In Paris, the CAC 40 closed down 0.3 percent at 7,161.5 points, after setting a new session high at 7,201.65 points. The SBF 120 lost 0.2 percent. The DAX 40 in Frankfurt gave up 0.7%. The London Stock Exchange, which was closed on Monday and Tuesday, caught up with the upward movement of recent sessions, with the FTSE 100 gaining 0.7%. Oil and gas stocks CGG (-3.4%), TechnipFMC (-2.5%) and Vallourec (-2%) caught their breath after their rise on Tuesday. Valneva declined (-3%) after six consecutive sessions of increases and gaining nearly 9%. Teleperformance (+1.7%) rose after the announcement on Tuesday evening of the acquisition of the American company Senture, which specializes in outsourced management of business processes for government agencies in the United States. The transaction was made on the basis of an enterprise value of $400 million, or about 353.5 million euros. ArcelorMittal (+0.2%) announced on Wednesday that it had completed the $1 billion share buyback program it announced on November 17. By the close of December 28, the steel group had repurchased a total of about 34,000 shares at an average unit price of 25.99 euros. In Frankfurt, Deutsche Bank (-1.4%) was fined 8.66 million euros by the German financial services regulator, Bafin, concerning the Euribor interbank rate.

The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed to fresh records Wednesday in a choppy session exacerbated by light holiday trading volumes. The S&P 500 gained 6.71 points, or 0.1% to finish at 4793.06, eking out its 70th record close of the year. The Dow also notched a new closing high after adding 90.42 points, or 0.2%, to finish at 36488.63. That marked the blue-chip index’s sixth consecutive daily gain—its longest winning streak since mid-March. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite, in contrast, lost 15.51 points, or 0.1%, to close at 15766.22. Investors’ subsiding fears over the Omicron variant have helped propel stocks higher in recent sessions. The S&P 500 is now up 1.4% for the week and almost 28% for the year. Movements this week, however, have been exacerbated by lower-than-average trading volumes due to the holiday season. Trading volumes reached the lowest level all year on Tuesday, according to a composite metric that includes the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq. Investors said some of the choppiness this week has also likely been driven by portfolio repositioning. Among the S&P 500’s 11 sectors, the energy, financials and communication services sectors fell Wednesday. But shares of many technology and travel companies also struggled. Chip maker Advanced Micro Devices and American Airlines Group posted among the biggest declines in the S&P 500, with losses of 3.2% and 2.6%, respectively. Shares of several large technology companies pulled back. Amazon.com lost $29.20, or 0.9%, to finish at $3,384.02. Apple added 9 cents, or about 0.1%, to close at $179.38. Investors have been keeping a close watch on the tech behemoth’s trading as it edges closer to becoming the first company to close above a $3 trillion market capitalization. Apple would need to close above $182.856 to reach the milestone. Bitcoin fell about 0.8% compared with its level at 5 p.m. ET on Tuesday. It traded around $47,210.30 as of 5 p.m. ET, according to CoinDesk, after declining the most in nearly a month the previous day.

In Asia, major benchmarks were mixed. The Shanghai Composite rises by 0.7 percent. In Hong Kong, the HSI closes with -0.3%. After a brilliant start for the stock market debut of SenseTime, a provider of artificial intelligence, the paper falls back from the day's highs. In Tokyo, railroad and aviation stocks weigh on the Nikkei-225, which closes barely maintained at -0.2%. In Seoul, the Kospi falls slightly more with -0.4%. Even positive data from industrial production in November do not support. Travel and chemical stocks slow down the South Korean stock market. Samsung Biologics, meanwhile, rally against the market trend with a plus of 2.1 percent. The parent company is reported to be in talks to buy the U.S. company Biogen. SK Hynix rise by almost 4 percent, the semiconductor group completes the acquisition of the NAND business of Intel.

Longer dated U.S. Treasury yields rose to the highest level in about a month Wednesday, with investors seeing only limited economic impact from the omicron variant of COVID, given evidence suggesting it produces milder symptoms than earlier strains. Meanwhile, shorter-dated yields, which have recently been drifting higher, steadied. The 10-year Treasury note yields 1.542%, up 6.2 basis points from 1.480% on Tuesday at 3 p.m. Eastern Time, to register the highest rate since Nov. 24, after briefly touching an intraday peak at around 1.562% early Wednesday.

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