Tesla stock jumps despite sales dip

Transcript: 

CONWAY GITTENS: I'm Conway Gittens reporting from the New York Stock Exchange. Here’s what we’re watching on TheStreet today.

Wall Street quietly added to gains in pre-holiday volumes, just enough for the tech-heavy Nasdaq to close at a fresh record high. Investors had to weigh comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell. He said inflation is now coming down to his liking, but warned there are risks to cutting interest rates too early or too late.

In other news: Tesla continues to feel the heat from growing competition and an overall malaise in the EV market.

Deliveries fell for a second straight quarter, noteworthy because this is the first time in Tesla’s 21-year history that it’s seen back-to-back delivery drops from the prior year.

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Tesla’s sales growth is slowing with Elon Musk and his company no longer the only EV game in town. In addition, high repair and maintenance costs, as well as worries about the ability to recharge batteries quickly and conveniently, have led many Americans to rethink their EV transition. Musk has responded by offering near zero-percent financing on some models in order to spur sales.

Nevertheless, quarterly deliveries were still down 4.8 percent from a year ago. That, however, was not as bad as feared. As a result, shares of Tesla jumped roughly 9 percent to a six-month high.

That’ll do it for your daily briefing. From the New York Stock Exchange, I'm Conway Gittens with TheStreet.

Related: Tesla Q2 deliveries surprise sends stock soaring despite China slump