Axios

Tesla stock surged 17% on Monday, wiping away major losses last week, after CEO Elon Musk reached a settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that required him to pay a $20 million fine and step down as chairman.

What's: Tesla's third-quarter vehicle production and delivery numbers are expected to be announced in days, and Q3 financial results will be reported in a few weeks.

Dan and Axios' Felix Salmon discuss the settlement between Tesla's Elon Musk and federal securities regulators, which includes a requirement that Musk step down as Tesla's chairman for three years.

"Musk's tweets were reckless and untrue and, even if he’d somehow prevailed in court, it would have only been after months of uncertainty for Tesla employees, shareholders and customers. Now he and the company can get back to making cars, not controversy."

• Go deeper: Elon Musk and the SEC both cave

Husky Energy made an unsolicited $6.4 billion takeover offer for rival Canadian oil and gas producer MEG Energy, representing a 37% premium over Friday's close.

Why it matters: This is China's battle for Canada's oil sands. Husky is controlled by affiliates of Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing, while Cnooc holds a 12% stake in MEG. Per Bloomberg's Kevin Orland, "The takeover would create an oil producer churning out more than 410,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day and with an almost equal amount of refining capacity."

Shares of Tesla surged 15% on Monday, following Musk's $20 million settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission over his "funding secured" tweet and a leaked memo to employees about near-term profitability.

Why it matters: With the gains on Monday, Tesla has recovered all of its losses from last week, when the SEC initially sued Musk. In investors' minds, the worst-case scenario for Tesla — the removal of Musk as CEO — has been avoided.

Go deeper: Elon Musk and the SEC both cave

Shares of Tesla surged 15% on Monday, following Musk's $20 million settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission over his "funding secured" tweet and a leaked memo to employees about near-term profitability.

Why it matters: With the gains on Monday, Tesla has recovered all of its losses from last week, when the SEC initially sued Musk. In investors' minds, the worst-case scenario for Tesla—the removal of Musk as CEO—has been avoided.

Saudi Arabia has put its $200 billion plan to build the world's largest solar project on hold, according to the Wall Street Journal, which cites Saudi government officials as sources.

Why it matters: The news signals the struggles and challenges the Saudis face in implementing ambitious plans to diversify their crude-reliant economy.

A nascent organization funded by global oil companies to address climate change may seem ironic — but it's a credible effort that could actually have a real impact.

Why it matters: Under pressure from investors and lawsuits, oil companies are starting to acknowledge climate change and slowly shift their business models in response.

Elon Musk is a chaos monkey who creates problems more quickly than he can resolve them.

A perfect case in point: Hours before signing a settlement to pay the SEC $10 million and step down as chairman of Tesla for two years, Musk changed his mind, precipitating an SEC lawsuit and the destruction of more than $7 billion in wealth as Tesla stock promptly plunged on Friday. So then Musk unchanged his mind, agreeing to pay a $20 million fine and step down as chairman for three years.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk told employees in a companywide email that they "are very close to achieving profitability and proving the naysayers wrong," Bloomberg reports.

The big picture: The email went out hours after Musk settled with federal regulators over his failed take-private plan, agreeing to step down as Tesla's chairman and pay a $20 million penalty. The embattled executive also told employees in the email that if they went "all out" on Sunday — the end of the third quarter — "we will achieve an epic victory beyond all expectations."