October 17, 2018 3 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Elon Musk may not have the backing to take Tesla private, but he's still bullish on the company he helped create.

Yesterday, Tesla stock got a 6.5 percent pop after the company and Mr. Musk settled a complaint with the SEC over tweets Musk made in August. It was also revealed that Musk intended to buy another $20 million in company stock to add to his more than $9 billion stake in the company. Shares in the car manufacturer were down 1.74 percent today.

The stock market was mixed today. Investors appear torn between the encouraging results being posted by U.S. companies this quarter and the uncertain outlook for their future. In a volatile session, the Entrepreneur Index™ was down 0.18 percent today.

Consider some of the balls in the air: the U.S. economy is booming; interest rates are rising; global economies are weakening; and U.S.-China trade talks are in "hiatus." Throw in Brexit uncertainties and the Saudi Arabia situation, and markets don't know which way to go.

Fear of the Fed and rising interest rates appear to have gained the upper hand after the Fed Open Market committee released the minutes of its last meeting today. They indicate the central bank will continue to hike interest rates, despite withering criticism from the president.

Related: Here's Why Adobe Stock Rose Almost 10 Percent Today

That drove the yield on the 10-year Treasury bond up five points to 3.21 percent and spooked the housing sector and industrial manufacturers. Homebuilder D.R. Horton was down 2.25 percent. Truck parts maker PACCAR Inc. was off 1.91 percent and O'Reilly Auto Parts Inc fell 3.6 percent -- the largest decline on the Entrepreneur Index™ today.

The price of oil also fell 2.6 percent today on fears of slowing global economic growth and rising crude oil inventories in the U.S. Oil and gas exploration company Hess Corp.was down 1.53 percent.

Loews Corp, a conglomerate with investments in the hotel industry, had the second biggest decline on the index, falling 3.34 percent today. CEO Jonathan Tisch said that U.S. hotels were suffering from a drop in international travellers because of extreme vetting processes of foreign visitors by the Trump administration.

The biggest gain on the index was posted by Netflix. The company reported earnings last night and blew away estimates for subscriber growth in the U.S. and international markets. It topped analyst earnings estimates by more than 30 percent. The stock gained nearly 10 percent in the morning before closing up 5.28 percent on the day.

Netflix' blowout earnings weren't enough to buoy the rest of the tech sector. Tech stocks in the Entrepreneur Index™ were mixed with Facebook, Amazon.com and Akamai Technologies posting small gains, while Alphabet (formerly Google), NVIDIA Corp. and Adobe Systems Inc. -- the biggest gainer on the index yesterday -- posted small losses.

Financial service firms got a boost after banking giants Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley also topped earnings estimates today. Jefferies Financial Group, down 18 percent so far this year, was up 1.07 percent. Asset manager BlackRock had a positive gain (0.94 percent), after posting the biggest decline on the index yesterday. Competitor Franklin Resources was also up 0.98 percent, and specialty insurer Aflac Inc. was up 1.22 percent.

The Entrepreneur Index™ collects the top 60 publicly traded companies founded and run by entrepreneurs. The entrepreneurial spirit is a valuable asset for any business, and this index recognizes its importance, no matter how much a company has grown. These inspirational businesses can be tracked in real time on Entrepreneur.com.