The stock market had a strong performance on Monday, but it couldn't keep up the positive momentum into Tuesday morning. Even news that the House of Representatives had passed a bill to boost the size of anticipated coronavirus stimulus payments from $600 to $2,000 wasn't enough to give major market benchmarks another leg higher. As of 11:15 a.m. EST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI 0.06%) was down 37 points to 30,367. The S&P 500 (^GSPC -0.22%) stayed flat at 3,735, while the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC -0.52%) had given up 30 points to 12,870.
The electric vehicle space remains one of the hottest areas of the stock market, and this morning, shares of XPeng (XPEV -3.37%) and other Chinese EV stocks were sharply higher. Meanwhile, in the U.S., social media company Snap (SNAP 6.70%) made a big push upward as well, continuing a strong year for the Snapchat parent.
Solid gains for China EV
Chinese EV stocks were broadly higher on Tuesday morning. XPeng picked up almost 8%, while Li Auto (LI 1.57%) was up 6%. Kandi Technologies (KNDI 9.58%) gained almost 5%, and NIO (NIO 2.30%) settled for a 3% rise.
Image source: Getty Images.
The biggest news in the industry Tuesday came from Kandi, which obtained a line of credit with a state-owned Chinese bank for 500 million yuan. That money is aimed toward rolling out a ridesharing program that officials hope will eventually include 300,000 electric vehicles with the ability to swap out batteries in order to facilitate maximum use. The parties anticipate reaching this goal within five years, and Kandi hopes to accelerate the process dramatically with the added capital.
Kandi and its Chinese EV peers have huge opportunities, but they also face big challenges. U.S. industry giant Tesla (TSLA -3.55%) has been smart about expanding its production capacity in China, and its name-brand recognition is huge around the world. That's forcing NIO, XPeng, Li, and Kandi to work harder just to defend their own home territory, let alone pursue plans to expand across the region.
Snap is back!
Elsewhere, shares of Snap were higher by more than 6%. That's sent the stock close to an all-time record high, with Snap having more than tripled so far in 2020.
The Snapchat parent's latest move higher came courtesy of Wall Street analysts. Goldman Sachs had good things to say about the company, arguing that new product releases and efforts to build stronger advertising collaborations should help to boost Snap's prospects in the coming year. Goldman put a $70 per share price target on Snap shares, up from its previous $47 target.
Already, Snap has improved its execution, taking advantage of rising demand during the COVID-19 pandemic. Increases in daily active users and the volume of their use have helped drive the stock price higher throughout the year. Moreover, creative interactions with users have resonated with Snap's target audience, and that should boost monetization going forward.
Goldman thinks that Snap shares are still a buy even after the recent run-up, and its price target implies considerably more upside from here. As turnaround efforts go, few match up to Snap's success in 2020, and it'll be interesting to see what 2021 brings for the social media innovator.
