What happened
The shares of some electric vehicle stocks were tumbling today on no company-specific news. Instead, investors appeared to be concerned with comments made by Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon and former Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos about the state of the U.S. economy.
The EV industry is just beginning to find its footing, but a widespread economic slowdown in the U.S. and abroad could add to an already turbulent time for high-growth EV companies. As a result, Nio (NIO 0.25%) was down by 9%, Rivian Automotive (RIVN 2.84%) fell by as much as 3.4% before bouncing back up by 0.1%, and ChargePoint Holdings (CHPT -1.47%) dropped 3.8% as of 11:49 a.m. ET.
So what
Yesterday, Goldman Sachs reported its latest quarterly financial results, which were better than analysts were expecting. Those solid earnings came on the heels of better-than-expected results from Bank of America and Bank of New York Mellon, which encouraged most investors that the economy may not be as bad as they had feared.
Image source: Getty Images.
But that optimism mostly faded this morning after Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said in an interview with CNBC yesterday that there's a good chance that a recession is coming and added that he thinks "... there's more volatility on the horizon."
Those comments spooked some investors, and they were echoed by Bezos, who retweeted Solomon's interview clip and shared his own thoughts on the economy, saying, "Yep, the probabilities in this economy tell you to batten down the hatches."
Yep, the probabilities in this economy tell you to batten down the hatches. https://t.co/SwldRdms5v
-- Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) October 18, 2022
Those comments likely have EV investors worried this morning. While Nio's share price got a boost earlier this week after China's president said the country will invest in new technologies, China is dealing with its own economic slowdown right now.
Similarly, ChargePoint's stock rose earlier this week as investors grew optimistic about the U.S. economy, but the EV charging company's share price decline today indicates that investors are still unsure how confident they should be.
And finally, while Rivian's shares were climbing higher earlier this week as well, investors may now be concerned that a significant slowdown in the economy could derail the company's growth expectations and make it more difficult for Rivian to reach its production goals.
The stock was up slightly at publication time, but the early share price dip in the day indicates that investors are still unsure how to gauge Rivian's stock during shifting economic news.
Now what
The EV industry is in a difficult spot right now. While consumer demand is strong and governments across the world are investing in EV incentives, there are also significant headwinds in the industry.
Rising inflation, higher material costs, and now the potential for a recession in the U.S. (and likely in other countries) are all weighing on Nio's, Rivian's, and ChargePoint's share prices.
Investors will get a better look at how these companies are doing financially when they report their latest quarterly results. Nio's results are expected on Nov. 8, Rivian will report on Nov. 9, and ChargePoint will release its quarterly update on Dec. 6.
But EV stocks are likely to remain volatile for the time being as the economy grapples with rising inflation and a potential recession. That doesn't mean Nio, Rivian, and ChargePoint won't be good long-term investments, but they could experience more share price turbulence in the near term.
