Tesla Staring at Deepest Weekly Drop Since Virus-Fueled Selloff

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May 13 2021, 10:10 PMMay 13 2021, 11:12 PMMay 13 2021, 10:10 PMMay 13 2021, 11:12 PM

(Bloomberg) -- Tesla Inc.’s shares are headed for their worst weekly loss since the coronavirus-driven selloff in March 2020 after falling below a closely watched level.

Investors in the Elon Musk-led electric-vehicle company missed out on the broader recovery in technology stocks Thursday, with shares now down over 14% in the four trading days this week. The stock fell as much as 3.7% earlier in the day, touching a low of $567.97. That was below the stock’s 200-day moving average of $582.60.

Tesla’s share price has closed below its 200-DMA six other times since early 2019, the last instance being when it briefly touched that mark amid the market crash last March. When Tesla crossed below that level in late February 2019, it sparked a decline of over 40% in about three months.

Read more: Tesla Nears Stock Milestone That Portends Further Drop

Thursday’s weakness came after Musk on Wednesday tweeted that the company was suspending purchases of its cars using the cryptocurrency Bitcoin. The move is a turnabout from February when Tesla said it had purchased $1.5 billion in Bitcoin and planned to accept it as a payment, triggering a rally in its own stock as well as the currency.