What happened
With the S&P 500 up 1.8% today, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite up 2.6%, it looks like Friday will finally end on a high note for investors -- and break an eight-week losing streak for the stock market.
Helping to pull the market out of its rut today: electric vehicle (EV) stocks.
We're seeing shares of Livent (LTHM), which mines lithium for electric car batteries, surge 12.3% higher as of 1:30 p.m. ET today, followed by electric car charging stocks ChargePoint Holdings (CHPT -1.47%) and Blink Charging (BLNK 2.17%), up 11.8% and 8%, respectively.
Image source: Getty Images.
So what
Let's begin today's review with Livent, which has the most obvious good news powering its rally. Early this morning, Livent announced that it will collaborate with electric air-taxi start-up Lilium N.V. (LILM 3.16%) to jointly develop new lithium metal technology for use in high-performance battery cells.
Lilium's goal from this partnership is obviously to advance the production of light, energy-dense batteries that can be used to power electric air vehicles, commonly known as eVTOLs (for electric vertical take-off and landing). But energy-dense batteries that don't weigh a lot will have broad application to a wide range of end uses down here on the ground as well -- everything from laptops to electric cars. And what's good for lithium batteries will obviously be good for lithium stocks, and therefore good for Livent.
Moving down the supply chain, what's good for lithium batteries should also be good for the companies that charge those batteries -- ChargePoint and Blink being among the biggest. And helping to turbocharge these stocks' performance today is a report from Ernst & Young, which says that for the first time ever, a majority (52%) of car buyers around the world intend to buy an electric (or hybrid) automobile.
Now what
Commenting on the E&Y report, news website Electrek notes today that between rising electric car "ranges" and a widening network of places to charge them, "the old issues of worrying about charging infrastructure and the range of EVs will soon come to an end." This should further encourage car buyers to consider going electric. And as the number of EVs on the roads grows, this should in turn encourage further expansion of charging networks, resulting in a snowballing, positive-feedback loop that lifts all EV boats in the water (if you'll permit me to mix a few metaphors).
Final point: By now it should be obvious why investors are excited about EV stocks today. But as if to put a capstone on the argument, Bloomberg reported today that Ford has just delivered its first-ever F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck, with a resident of Michigan being lucky customer No. 1.
The electric revolution, it seems, is now in full swing -- and if you can find an EV stock cheap enough to be worth buying, now is probably a good time to buy it.
