The ongoing swoon in Tesla continued to alarm as the electric vehicle giant’s losses for the year to date hit 35% – knocking some $250 billion from its market value as it dropped another 4% on Thursday.
Dogged by sluggish EV demand in the first quarter, a price war and intense competition from China peers – not to mention a German arson shutdown in one of its factories and noise around chief executive Elon Musk’s $56 billion pay package – the stock losses are mounting.
Tesla has replaced Boeing as the worst performing stock on the S&P 500 index so far this year. Ten out of 48 brokerages rate the stock “sell” or “strong sell”, according to LSEG data.
Elsewhere, Bitcoin eased to a one-week low in volatile trade, as investors took profit from its run to a record high after the upside U.S. inflation surprise. It fell more than 5% in the Asian session to at low at $66,629.
In Japan, speculation about a BOJ policy tightening next week intensified and dragged the Nikkei lower again.
Japan’s biggest companies agreed to hike wages by 5.28% for 2024, the highest in 33 years, the country’s largest union group Rengo said on Friday, reinforcing views that the central bank will soon shift away from a decade-long stimulus programme.
The yen weakened, however – perhaps as much to do with the dollar’s jump on the Fed rethink.
European stocks fell back from Thursday’s records but were steadier early on Friday.
Chinese stocks were more mixed, with Hong Kong’s index falling as property worries continue to jar.
China’s new home prices dropped for an eighth straight month in February, suggesting the fragile property market is struggling to find a bottom despite a slew of measures to shore up the sector. New home prices fell 1.4% over the year – faster than the 0.7% drop in January and the biggest decline in 13 months.
