Tesla shares plunge nearly 9% on Wall Street after sales collapse in Europe

Shares of electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla plunged 8.39% on Tuesday at the close of trading in the United States. The shares of the firm led by Elon Musk are thus on track for their worst day in the semester and remove the company from the club of companies with a market capitalization of 1 billion dollars. The electric vehicle manufacturer thus loses more than 35% on the stock market after its highs in mid-December .

The stock market penalty comes after Tesla's vehicle sales in the European Union fell by 50.3% in January 2025 compared to the same month last year, according to figures published on Tuesday by the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA). Specifically, the company sold 7,517 units in the first month of this year, compared to 15,130 vehicles in January 2024.

Tesla's poor figures are dragging down the rest of the US stocks. The falls are more pronounced in technology, a barometer of market sentiment, with the Nasdaq index down 0.49% on the day, making it four days in negative territory. The indicator is already in the red for the year. The S&P, for its part, is down 0.47%.

In addition, the poor consumer confidence data on Tuesday, the worst since 2021, has further dampened investor sentiment. In fact, the economic outlook is responsible for the 10-year US bond falling 10 basis points to the lowest level of the year, 4.33%. A lower interest rate implies less concern about inflation, and more about growth.

The market is closely watching Nvidia's moves. The chipmaker will present its annual results on Wednesday, the first since the shake-up caused by DeepSeek. On Tuesday, the firm's shares fell by 2.7%.

The Ibex maintains its highs

The Ibex 35 has touched intraday highs in the session, above 13,200 points, the level of June 2008, in a session that went against the flow of the rest of the markets. An enthusiasm that has moderated at the close to 13,116.8 points after rising 0.8%. Once again, it is the banking sector that is the main architect of the gains. CaixaBank , Santander ( which exceeds six euros ), Sabadell , BBVA and Bankinter rose between 1.2% and 1.9%, a percentage above that of Enagás and Mapfre, which have risen 2.9% and 2.3%, respectively. Within the index, Logista has dropped 4.7% after discounting the dividend . Outside the Ibex, there have been notable corrections in stocks that have risen in recent sessions, such as Oryzon and Duro Felguera, with falls of 21.5% and 18.7%, respectively.

Rovi closed with a flat result after a 20% drop in profits due to a drop in outsourced manufacturing and announcing new dividends in the midst of a storm on the stock market. Two other stocks also performed the same: Redeia and Acerinox.

In Europe, meanwhile, the falls are moderate, 0.17% in the Euro Stoxx 50, and only 0.5% in the case of the Paris Stock Exchange. In line with the worse relative performance of Wall Street, the euro has rebounded against the dollar by half a percentage point, to trade above 1.05 dollars per euro. Within the European market, Thyssenkrupp's very strong rise stands out, of 9.6%, after confirming that it plans to list its submarine division, in a context of increased defence budgets. In the European debt market, the Spanish 10-year bond is trading with a fall of 3.5 basis points, similar to that of the German one, in a day marked by the successful placement of 7 billion of 15-year Treasury debt, an operation received by investors with strong demand.