Tesla sinks below the price at which it entered S&P 500

[LONDON] Tesla shares wiped out their year-to-date gains Tuesday and traded below the level where they were when the electric-carmaker entered the S&P 500 Index in December.

The stock dropped as much as 12 per cent to US$627.10 in New York on Tuesday, its biggest intraday decline since Sept 8, after falling 8.6 per cent on Monday. The stock is now down 30 per cent from its Jan 25 record intraday high.

Tesla's early-week decline amid a wider market selloff was fuelled in part by chief executive officer Elon Musk's comments over the weekend that the prices of Bitcoin and smaller rival Ether "do seem high".

The concerns over the value of the cryptocurrency helped erase some of Bitcoin's gains, which had rocketed to new highs after Tesla announced two weeks ago it added US$1.5 billion in Bitcoin to its balance sheet.

Smaller electric-vehicle (EV) stocks, which typically take their daily trading cues from Tesla, also dropped sharply Tuesday. The breakneck rally in many of the pure-play EV makers has slowed down considerably in 2021 as investors grew wary of increasing competition from traditional auto companies, such as General Motors and Ford Motor.

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