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Automaker and electric vehicle stocks are down Monday, as the market grapples with the mayhem that followed a weaker-than-expected jobs report.
The bloodbath in the stock market has been influenced by several factors, including renewed concerns about a potential recession in the U.S. due to rising unemployment rates. Moreover, the Bank of Japan’s decision to raise its benchmark interest rate has caused the value of the yen to rise, and Japanese stocks have suffered their biggest fall since 1987.
Japan’s Nikkei stock index dropped by over 12% on Monday, while European stocks on the Stoxx 600 index also dropped nearly 3.5%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1,225 points, or 3%, to 38,654m while the Nasdaq futures shed over 1,161 points or 6%.
Although the hardest-hit stocks were initially tech companies — chipmaker Nvidia is down just shy of 8%, while Amazon is down 5% — the entire stock market has been impacted. Apple is down more than 4%, impacted by both the jobs report and Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway’s decision to sell off half of its shares.
Tesla — which is arguably both an automaker and an artificial intelligence firm — is down almost 6%, wiping out many of the recent gains the stock has made over the past several months. The stock is down 21% year-to-date, despite a wave of enthusiasm brought on by strong analyst recommendations and Morgan Stanley’s decision to name it its “top pick” for the auto industry last week.
It also comes in spite of CEO Elon Musk’s comments on Friday during an interview with podcast host Lex Fridman, where he said the company will generate sales of more than $100 billion, above the $99 billion expected by analysts, and marking a new milestone. Last year, Tesla sales hit $97 billion.
But Tesla isn’t the only carmaker feeling the market’s pain.
Electric truck maker Rivian’s shares are down almost 6% Monday, bringing it to a year-to-date performance of a 34% loss. The startup is betting on an up to $5 billion deal with Volkswagen and a series of new, more affordable trucks to keep it on track and assuage investors’ concerns. Fellow EV startup Lucid Motors’s stock is down around 5%.
The Detroit Three’s stocks are also sinking Monday, building on their respective second-quarter performances that failed to win over investors last month. Ford Motor shares are down more than 4%, while General Motors stock has fallen almost 5% and Stellantis shares are trading more than 3% lower on Monday.
And the EV industry’s very own “meme stock” is down more 18% Monday, marking a more than 58% year-to-date decline. After a difficult year, Los Angeles-based Faraday Future Intelligent Electric last week managed to regain listing compliance with the Nasdaq.
—Vinamrata Chaturvedi contributed to this story