NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of Tesla soared Wednesday as investors bet that the electric vehicle maker and its CEO Elon Musk will benefit from Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
Tesla stands to make significant gains under a Trump administration with the threat of diminished subsidies for alternative energy and electric vehicles doing the most harm to smaller competitors. Trump’s plans for extensive tariffs on Chinese imports make it less likely that Chinese EVs will be sold in bulk in the U.S. anytime soon.
“Tesla has the scale and scope that is unmatched,” said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, in a note to investors. “This dynamic could give Musk and Tesla a clear competitive advantage in a non-EV subsidy environment, coupled by likely higher China tariffs that would continue to push away cheaper Chinese EV players.”
Tesla shares jumped more than 14% Wednesday while shares of rival electric vehicle makers tumbled. Nio, based in Shanghai, fell 5%. Shares of electric truck maker Rivian dropped 9% and Lucid Group fell almost 8%.
Tesla dominates sales of electric vehicles in the U.S, with 48.9% in market share through the middle of 2024, according to the Energy Information Administration.
Subsidies for clean energy are part of the Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2022. It included tax credits for manufacturing, along with tax credits for consumers of electric vehicles.
Musk was one of Trump’s biggest donors, spending at least $119 million mobilizing Trump’s supporters to back the Republican nominee. He also pledged to give away $1 million a day to voters signing a petition for his political action committee.
In some ways, it has been a rocky year for Tesla, with sales and profit declining through the first half of the year. Profit did rise 17.3% in the third quarter.
The U.S. opened an investigation into the company’s “Full Self-Driving” system after reports of crashes in low-visibility conditions, including one that killed a pedestrian. The investigation covers roughly 2.4 million Teslas from the 2016 through 2024 model years.
And investors sent company shares tumbling last month after Tesla unveiled its long-awaited robotaxi at a Hollywood studio Thursday night, seeing not much progress at Tesla on autonomous vehicles while other companies have been making notable progress.
Tesla began selling the software, which is called “Full Self-Driving,” nine years ago. But there are doubts about its reliability.
The stock is now showing a 16% gain for the year after rising the past two days.
The U.S. stock market is drifting lower following mixed data on the economy’s strength. The S&P 500 fell 0.4% Tuesday and remains a bit below its all-time high set last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 271 points, and the Nasdaq composite was mostly unchanged. Treasury yields eased a bit after the reports on the U.S. job market, retail sales and business activity did little to clear uncertainty about where the Federal Reserve may take interest rates next year. AI stocks, which have been under heavy pressure recently, were mixed. Stock indexes fell across much of Europe and Asia.
Many U.S. consumers say they’ve noticed higher than usual prices for holiday gifts in recent months, according to a a December poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. A contributing factor is the unusually high import taxes the Trump administration put on foreign goods. While the worst-case consumer impact that many economists foresaw from the administration’s trade policies hasn’t materialized, some popular gift items have been affected more than others. Most toys and electronics sold in the U.S. come from China. So do most holiday decorations. Jewelry prices have risen due to the cost of gold.
A sell-off for Oracle is weighing on Wall Street as investors question whether its big spending on artificial-intelligence technology will pay off. The S&P 500 was mostly unchanged Thursday and hovering around its all-time high set in October. Drops for AI-related stocks dragged the Nasdaq composite down 0.6%. Oracle at one point was heading toward its worst loss since 2001 on worries about how much it plans to spend on AI infrastructure. But most stocks on Wall Street rose, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 600 points. Treasury yields slipped after a report showed more U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits.
The U.S. stock market is flirting with its all-time high after the Federal Reserve cut its main interest rate to bolster the job market. The S&P 500 rose 0.8% Wednesday and was on track to squeak past its all-time closing high, which was set in October. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 559 points, and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.4%. Wall Street loves lower interest rates because they can boost the economy and goose prices for investments, even if they have the potential of making inflation worse. Treasury yields eased in the bond market.
The U.S. stock market is drifting near its record levels following reactions to profit reports from Macy’s, Marvell Technologies and other companies. The S&P 500 added 0.4% Wednesday and climbed within 0.5% of its all-time high set in late October. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 428 points, and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.2%. Treasury yields eased in the bond market following some mixed reports on the U.S. economy. One suggested hiring was much weaker in November than economists expected, while a second said growth for U.S. services businesses was better than expected.
The Enhanced Games is going public in two ways — with a new listing on the Nadsaq stock exchange and also by offering a direct-to-consumer business focused on performance products.
