According to JL Warren Capital - a NY-based analysis firm specializing in Chinese companies - Tesla may finally have "funding secured" for its factory in Shanghai. As reported  by CNBC, the company has lined up about $2 billion in loans from a consortium of investors, including Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank and Agricultural Bank of China. This could take the wind out of the sails of Musk's "surprise" announcement that investors are expecting today. 

We pointed out just a day ago that Elon Musk had potentially again violated his settlement agreement with the SEC when - after the SEC made it clear they were seeking contempt of court charges against Musk - he announced, again on Twitter, that there would be "Tesla news" coming toward the end of the trading day today, Thursday.

Tesla shares rallied on the expectation of the news, soaring $16 in trading on the day after the Tweet and rising $3 more in pre-market trading on Thursday, ahead of the announcement.

Shanghai, a major city in arguably the world's most influential automobile market, has remained an acute focus, if not an outright "hail Mary" for Elon Musk and Tesla. Musk said of the China project on his latest conference call: "We need to bring the Shanghai factory online. I think that's the biggest variable for getting to 500,000-plus a year. Our car is just very expensive going into China. We've got import duties, we've got transport costs, we've got higher costs of labor here."