Article Provided by MarketWatch
By Al RootFollow
Last Updated: March 24, 2025 at 5:57 p.m. ET
First Published: March 24, 2025 at 4:28 a.m. ET
Tesla stock has dropped for nine consecutive weeks, losing 42% over the span.Photo: JOHN THYS / AFP via Getty Images
Referenced Symbols
Tesla
TSLA+11.93% stock jumped Monday as it tried to snap a long streak of weekly losses.
The market is helping, along with news about the company’s autonomous driving systems. The best news, however, might have come Thursday evening, when CEO Elon Musk addressed nervous employees, emphasizing the company’s gains in self-driving technology and robotics ensure a bright future.
Shares of the electric-vehicle maker closed up 11.9% at $278.39, while the S&P 500
and Dow Jones Industrial Average
added 1.8% and 1.4%, respectively. It was the best one-day gain since the 14.8% jump on Nov. 6.
Many stocks are higher on hopes that President Donald Trump won’t implement his most punitive tariffs in April on Mexico and Canada. Tariffs are particularly nettlesome for car companies that source many parts from the two countries.
As for self-driving systems, Reuters reported on Monday that Tesla is about to roll out its highest-level driver-assistance product, called Full Self-Driving (FSD), in China, citing local social-media posts from Tesla employees.
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Better driver-assistance products can help Tesla sell more vehicles, although the company charges several thousand dollars for its driver-assistance features while Chinese peer BYD
essentially gives them away.
FSD sales in China were expected. Tesla is also expected to roll out FSD in Europe this year. FSD can help, but some of the early gains for Tesla stock are likely a rebound after some steep drops.
The willingness of Chinese consumers to pay for FSD, and its impact on Tesla’s Chinese market share, will be closely watched by investors.
On Friday, shares rose 5.3%, leaving them down 0.5% for the week. It was the ninth consecutive decline for shares, extending the worst weekly streak for Tesla stock on record.
The postelection run set up some of the declines. The stock rose to roughly $490 from $250 to mid-December from the Nov. 5 election. Investors believed the second Trump administration would benefit the auto maker, mainly by regulations facilitating the introduction of self-driving cars. Tesla plans to launch a robo-taxi service in 2025.
Since the January inauguration, around the time Tesla’s stock slide started, investors have begun to focus more on Musk’s political activities and how they might be turning off Tesla’s traditional buyers—politically left-leaning people looking to go green.
Tesla facilities have faced protests, some of which have even resulted in property destruction. Monday, the FBI announced it was creating a task force to look into incidents, calling them “domestic terrorism.”
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Friday’s jump came after Musk met with Tesla employees. Paying attention to the car company, rather than his responsibilities as budget cutter in Washington, was enough for Wall Street.
“Investors roundly cheered Elon’s vision, confidence, spirit, and calmness in praising employees for other efforts during the current media story,” said Future Fund Active
exchange-traded fund co-founder Gary Black.
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“The speech was a major step forward,” said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, adding that “many showrooms” in the U.S. appear to have new Tesla buyers.
The end result of all the volatility is a stock that, coming into Monday trading, has been roughly flat since the election. Monday’s gains still left Tesla stock down about 36% since the Jan. 20 presidential inauguration.
More sales data will move shares in the coming days and weeks. Monthly sales from the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association are due out later this week. Tesla’s European sales dropped 45% year over year in January. Some of the drop can be attributed to a model changeover: Tesla is starting a new version of its Model Y.
Then, Tesla will report its first-quarter sales results on April 2. Wall Street is looking for first-quarter sales of 414,000 vehicles, according to FactSet. The most current analyst estimates, however, are closer to 360,000. Tesla delivered 387,000 cars in the first quarter of 2024.
Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com
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