Pound hit by rising Brexit worries; Tesla slumps amid tech rout – business live

Electric truck maker Nikola is bucking today’s selloff, with its shares surging 40% after it teamed up with General Motors.

The two firms have formed a strategic partnership, under which GM takes an 11% stake in Nikola, valued at $2bn.

Under the partnership, GM will manufacturer the Nikola Badger — its fully-electric and hydrogen fuel cell electric pickup truck aimed at consumers.

GM will also supply hydrogen fuel cells to Nikola for its Class 7 and Class 8 semi trucks.

That’s a boost to both companies (and possibly contributing to Tesla’s slide).

GM boss Mary Barra has told CNBC that the electric truck business is a ‘huge growth opportunity”. GM shares are up 7% in early trading.

Tesla’s share price has been on an extraordinary ride this year.

As you can see, it started the year with steady gains, only to slide in February as the Covid-19 pandemic send global markets tumbling.

By mid-March, shares were at the equivalent of $70 (once you adjust for the new 5-1 stock split), but they then recovered to their previous highs in June.

They then surged dramatically through the summer, as investors piled into the technology sector.

Some said it was unsustainable, others argued that the pandemic meant that tech companies (who offer the prospect of rising cash flow and sales) were a sensible choice – especially in an era of weak growth and record low borrowing costs.

CORRECTION: The Nasdaq is at its lowest level in three weeks, not months as I daftly wrote a few minutes ago.

Sorry for that typo (now fixed below, if you refresh).

Tesla’s stock has slumped by 18% at the start of trading, adding to last week’s slump.

Investors are unhappy that the self-driving electric carmaker has not been added to the S&P 500 (with Etsy, seller of homemade items and craft supplies favoured instead).

Had Tesla been included, then index trackers would have had to buy its shares (this is said to be one of the factors behind its recent huge gains).

Tesla is trading at $341.72 per share today, down from $418 on Friday night. That’s a staggering 30% below their record high (it hit $500 a week ago, just after its 5-1 stock split).

Shares in Elon Musk’s company had been rising like one of his rockets this year, amid the surge into technology stocks. Even after today’s fall, it’s still up 300% this year.

Tesla’s shares could also be under pressure because it has just raised $5bn through an offering of new stock.

America’s Big Tech companies are caught up in the selloff.

Apple has dropped by 4.8% to $115 per share, some way below the $125 at which the stock split a week ago.

Amazon has lost 3.6%, Microsoft has shed 3.3%, Facebook is down 3.1% and Alphabet (Google) is off 2.8%.

These companies had all surged this year, leading some analysts to predict a correction.

Today’s selloff has pulled the Nasdaq down to a three-week low [corrected], but it’s still up over 20% this year.

As feared, the US stock market has opened sharply lower.

The three main indices are all in the red in early trading, with tech stocks leading the selloff (extending the losses last week)

• Dow Jones industrial average: down 464 points or 1.65% at 27,668
• S&P 500: down 67 points or 2% at 3,359
• Nasdaq Composite: down 364 points or 3.2% at 10,948

Missed this earlier, sorry. Europe’s statistics body has revised its growth forecasts for the last quarter up a little.

It now says GDP across the eurozone shrank by 11.8%, up from the initial estimate of 12.1%. That’s still the worst quarter on record.

Eurostat’s report also shows how some European countries suffered much sharper recessions than others. The biggest declines in GDP were recorded in Spain (-18.5%), followed by Croatia (-14.9%), Hungary (-14.5%), Greece (-14.0%), Portugal (-13.9%) and France (-13.8%).

The lowest…