By 
Tesla Inc. stock lost 5.5% this week, underperforming both the broader stock market and its automaker peers as Chief Executive Elon Musk finishes out another roller-coaster week at the helm of Twitter Inc.
Tesla
TSLA,
+2.75%
stock on Monday fell below $200 for the first time since June 2021, and on Wednesday it sank to its lowest level in nearly two years.
The stock has recovered ground in the last two sessions, up nearly 8% in the period, but remains under $200 on Friday.
The S&P 500 index
SPX,
+0.92%
gained 5.9% this week, with General Motors Co.
GM,
+3.47%
and Ford Motor Co.
F,
+2.26%
advancing more than 5% and 7%, respectively.
Earlier in the week, a Kelley Blue Book survey focused on car shopping said that Tesla fell to sixth from fifth in the rankings of most-shopped luxury brands.
In the third quarter, 12 percent of all luxury-car shoppers considered a Tesla, down 3 percentage points, Kelley Blue Book said. That was the largest quarter-on-quarter loss for any luxury brand, it said.
“Intensifying competition from other automakers now offering electric vehicles, price hikes and lack of new products when the market is being barraged with new EVs may be causes of Tesla’s cooldown,” the organization said. “CEO Elon Musk’s controversial $44 billion acquisition of Twitter and provocative political comments may also have contributed to Tesla’s drop.”
Related: Rivian shows ‘improvement’ but Wall Street remains cautious on the stock
In the middle of an erratic week in command of Twitter, which included launching and then nixing features and seeing more key employees leave, Musk told Twitter employees he had sold Tesla shares to fund the deal and “save” the social-media company.
Read also: Elon Musk says Twitter bankruptcy ‘not out of the question’ as more top execs leave: reports
Filings related to the first of the sales showed earlier this week that Musk has so far sold about $3.95 billion worth of Tesla shares.
Comments