Tesla and Other EV Makers Have a New Problem: Buyers' Doubts Electric vehicle's eventual dominance of the personal transportation market appears to be a fait accompli for everyone but the people who count the most. Car companies believe it. Investors believe it. But car buyers don't seem as sure. UBS recently surveyed more than 10,000 consumers and found that 46% of potential car buyers would be willing to purchase an EV. That's high enough to be encouraging for the industry, but the reading from the same survey a year ago was 49%. The 2023 result was also the first sequential decline since 2016. Interest in EVs is waning, a little. The decline was "driven by European markets on affordability concerns," wrote co-author and automotive analyst Patrick Hummel. Despite the concerning rea
The Floor Could Still Fall Out of This Stock Market For a while, the most likely outcome for stock markets in 2023 was a trading range. Now, much worse scenarios are on the table. This past week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 376 points, or 1.2%, the $S&P 500(.SPX)$ Buy finished up 1.4%, and the $NASDAQ(.IXIC)$ rose 1.7%. All three fell about 1% after the Federal Reserve raised rates a quarter point on Wednesday. The go-nowhere action of the market over the past few days -- despite some significant events, such as Fed speeches and $Credit Suisse Group AG(CS)$
Market Recap | Stocks Edge Higher as Pressure on Banks Continues The selloff in U.S. bank stocks paused Friday, though continued pressure on global markets suggested that strains in the financial system have yet to be resolved. Upheaval that began with the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and two other U.S. lenders earlier this month spread to Europe with Credit Suisse's forced sale to UBS last weekend. On Friday, Deutsche Bank's Frankfurt-listed shares tumbled 8.5% as investors looked for the next trouble spot. All three major U.S. indexes were still on track for weekly gains. In Friday afternoon trading $S&P 500(.SPX)$ rose 0.6%. $DJIA(.DJI)$ </
Options Market Statistics: Unusual Options Activity in Block U.S. stocks moved higher Thursday as investors weighed the future path of interest rates following the Federal Reserve's quarter-point raise. $Tesla Motors(TSLA)$ shares edged higher by 0.56%, with option volume of 2.30 million, and calls accounted for 57.8%. The 200.00 calls expiring Friday lead the flow with a volume of 245,594. On Thursday, EV news outlet Electrek, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that Tesla expects its lowest-priced Model 3 sedan will lose eligibility for the full $7,500 tax credit. LFP batteries -- meaning lithium-iron-phosphate batteries -- cost less, but have less power per unit of volume. The auto industry tends to u
Market Recap | Stocks Rise as Investors Weigh Central-Bank Moves U.S. stocks moved higher Thursday as investors weighed the future path of interest rates following the Federal Reserve's quarter-point raise. $S&P 500(.SPX)$ ticked up 0.3%, a day after the broad-market index lost 1.6%. $DJIA(.DJI)$ added 0.2%. $NASDAQ(.IXIC)$ rose 1%. Fed Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday said officials considered skipping a rate increase after stress in the banking sector intensified last week. The Fed's latest policy statement suggested the central bank thinks it may be done raising interest rates
Options Market Statistics: GameStop Stock Options Pop After Earnings Stocks and government-bond yields sank after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates but signaled that further rate hikes might be limited.Meanwhile, in a Senate hearing, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that even as officials try to contain the fallout from recent banking distress, she isn't considering plans to guarantee all bank deposits. The comments tempered some investors' views of how far the government will go to accommodate the uninsured deposits of troubled banks' customers. $Tesla Motors(TSLA)$ shares dropped by 3.25%, with option volume of 2.17 million, and calls accounted for 59.5%. The 200.00 calls expiring Friday lead the flow w
Nvidia Stock Hits Best Winning Streak Since 2007 as AI Advantage Called 'Insurmountable' Nvidia Corp. finds itself uniquely positioned to take advantage of what's being called an artificial-intelligence revolution, analysts contend, as the chip maker's stock hit its best winning streak since 2007 on Wednesday. At $NVIDIA Corp(NVDA)$ annual GTC developers conference, the gaming-chip specialist rolled out a slew of hardware and software products that are geared to be the picks and shovels of the current AI gold rush, and formed a fresh partnership with $Alphabet(GOOG)$ $Alphabet(GOOGL)$
GameStop Stock Had Its Best Day Since 2021. An Earnings Surprise Squeezed Shorts. GameStop didn't provide any financial forecasts after reporting a fourth-quarter profit. $GameStop(GME)$ rose 35% to $23.87 on Wednesday. Shares traded at $27 earlier in the session. The gain was GameStop's largest percentage increase since March 25, 2021, when it rose 53%, according to Dow Jones Market Data. On Tuesday evening, the company reported earnings of 16 cents a share, well above the loss of 16 cents a share Wall Street analysts were expecting. The report initially sent shares of $AMC Entertainment(AMC)$ and $Bed Bath & Beyond(BBBY)$ &nbs
Options Market Statistics: Alphabet Attracts Bullish Bets as Opens Bard Chatbot to Beta Testers Increased investor optimism about the banking system helped lift U.S. stocks Tuesday, with shares of regional banks including First Republic Bank at the forefront of the rally. $Tesla Motors(TSLA)$ Buy shares rose by 1.73%, with option volume of 2.28 million, and calls accounted for 57.0%. The 200.00 calls expiring Friday lead the flow with a volume of 194,152. Tesla's European sales grew faster than those of any other car manufacturer in February, according to data released on Tuesday. It's price cuts seem to be helping its sales in Europe. $Amazon.com(AMZN)$
Sony PlayStation NFTs Could Be Here Soon And Users Might Get To Use Them On Xbox, Switch Consoles Video game giant $Sony(SONY)$ has more patents related to non-fungible tokens (NFTs) up its sleeve. What Happened: As the owner of the PlayStation video game consoles and several video game studios, Sony is one of the leading companies in the video game sector. While other video game companies are shying away, Sony appears to be getting deeper involved with non-fungible tokens. A new patent filing from Sony shows several ways the company could use NFTs in games. "Systems and methods are disclosed for determining that a first-end user entity has performed a task within a computer simulation for which a non-fungible token is to be provided, where the NF