Growing concerns about a slowdown in sales caused Tesla's stock to plummet Monday

Growing concerns about a slowdown in sales caused Tesla's stock to plummet Monday, plunging well below the beginning of its "Trump bump."

The big picture: Elon Musk had a rough day since a "massive" cyberattack also affected his messaging app, X.


Musk's controversial position as President Trump's head of DOGE appears to be hurting his commercial interests more and more, even though Tesla is already dealing with many difficulties.
By the numbers: On Monday, Tesla's stock dropped over 15%. Their market value has dropped by $700 billion, or more than 53%, from their peak on December 23.

The company's current closing price is over 11% lower than it was on the day of Trump's election.
Context: Tesla's decline has been particularly sharp, even as stocks generally have suffered in recent weeks due to worries about slowing GDP, renewed inflation fears, and tariff threats. According to FactSet, it has experienced the most loss of any stock in the S&P 500 so far this year.

In his early Monday statement on Truth Social, Trump stated that he was "going to buy a brand new Tesla tomorrow morning as a show of confidence and support for Elon Musk, a truly great American," but he did not specify the type of Tesla he intended to purchase.

"Why should he be punished for putting his tremendous skills to work in order to help MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN???" Trump added, seemingly alluding to his efforts with DOGE to restructure the federal agency and reduce its staff.
Influencing the news: Investors were alarmed by two unfavorable analyst remarks on Monday: In a study, UBS analyst Joseph Spak said that Tesla's sales were showing indications of a slowdown, and that these sales drops would probably affect the company's full-year profit projections as well as its first-quarter delivery goals.

Separately, Baird analyst Ben Kallo stated on CNBC that recent allegations of vandalism purportedly connected to political backlash could impact demand for Tesla automobiles.