Finance

Xiaomi shares up 16% after Chinese smartphone maker launches first EV

Published

10 months ago

April 2, 2024

Business Finance News

A Xiaomi SU7 electric sedan is seen displayed at a regional HQ of Xiaomi in Nanjing in east China’s Jiangsu province.

Future Publishing | Future Publishing | Getty Images

BEIJING — Shares of Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi surged as much as 16% on Tuesday, the first trading day since the company launched its SU7 electric car ahead of the Easter holiday.

Hong Kong-listed shares of Xiaomi touched 17.34 Hong Kong dollars on an intraday basis, its highest level since January 2022.

In a sign of how competitive China’s electric car market is, Xiaomi announced late Thursday that the SU7 would be priced at about $4,000 less than Tesla‘s Model 3, and claimed the new car would have a longer driving range.

As of Tuesday morning, Xiaomi’s online store showed wait times of at least 5 months for a basic version of the SU7. The company had said it received orders for more than 50,000 cars in the 27 minutes since sales started at 10 p.m. Beijing time Thursday.

Chinese EV startups Xpeng and Nio announced car purchase subsidies Monday of 20,000 yuan ($2,800) and 10,000 yuan each, respectively. Nio said the promotional deal followed the Chinese government’s policy efforts to promote consumption with trade-ins.

The price reductions come as growth of new energy vehicles in the world’s largest auto market shows signs of slowing. Penetration of battery and hybrid-powered passenger cars has surpassed more than one third of new cars sold in China, according to the China Passenger Car Association.

The rapid rise of Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD

Li Auto, most of whose cars come with a fuel tank to extend driving range, said Monday it delivered 28,984 cars in March. While up from February, the figure is below Li Auto’s recent delivery streak. The company in late March cut its first quarter delivery estimate by more than 20,000 vehicles.

Around the same time, Nio also trimmed its first quarter forecast by a few thousand cars. The company said Monday it delivered 11,866 cars in March.

Xpeng delivered even fewer cars last month, at 9,026 vehicles.

In contrast, Huawei’s new energy car brand Aito said it delivered 31,727 cars in March.

BYD remained the industry giant with 139,902 battery-powered passenger cars sold in March, and 161,729 hybrid vehicles sold during that time. BYD’s total passenger car sales last month rose by nearly 14% from a year ago.

Finance

NFLX, UAL, IBKR and more

Published

15 hours ago

January 21, 2025

Business Finance News

Finance

David Einhorn says we have reached the ‘Fartcoin’ stage of the market cycle

Published

17 hours ago

January 21, 2025

Business Finance News

David Einhorn, President at Greenlight Capital, speaking at the 14th CNBC Delivery Alpha Investor Summit in New York City on Nov. 13th, 2024.

Adam Jeffery | CNBC

Greenlight Capital’s David Einhorn thinks speculative behavior in the current bull market has ascended to a level beyond common sense.

“We have reached the ‘Fartcoin’ stage of the market cycle,” Einhorn wrote in an investor letter obtained by CNBC. “Other than trading and speculation, it serves no other obvious purpose and fulfills no need that is not served elsewhere.”

A crypto token called “fartcoin” exploded in popularity as the re-election of Donald Trump unleashed a storm of animal spirits on Main Street. The meme coin is now edging towards a $2 billion market value, surpassing many U.S.-listed companies.

More meme coins have emerged since the inception of fartcoin. President Donald Trump launched $TRUMP, a meme coin built on the Solana platform. Its market cap over the weekend climbed past $14 billion. The coin at one point was down more than 20% over the past 24 hours, but it has since cut its losses to around 3%. Trump’s wife Melania also unveiled a coin.

“Nothing stops the launch of many more tradable coins,” Einhorn said. “Perhaps we are leaving the Fartcoin stage of the market and entering the Trump (and Melania) memecoin stage. It’s anyone’s guess as to what will happen next, but it feels like it’s going to be wild.”

Einhorn’s letter comes as investors drive equities higher, buoyed by expectations of lower taxes and deregulation from the second Trump administration. On Tuesday, the day after the inauguration, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied more than 400 points. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.8% and 0.7%, respectively.

Shorting leveraged bitcoin ETFs

Greenlight took advantage of the craziness around crypto during the fourth quarter by betting against some popular ETFs linked indirectly to bitcoin.

The two funds the firm focused on were the T-Rex 2X Long MSTR Daily Target ETF (MSTU) and the Defiance Daily Target 2X Long MSTR ETF (MSTX). Those funds use derivatives to try to achieve two-times the daily returns of MicroStrategy, a software company that has turned itself into a bitcoin treasury vehicle in recent years.

The funds have at times struggled to achieve that goal due to MicroStrategy’s volatility and little supply of the derivatives most easily used to get the leveraged returns.

The letter said Greenlight took short positions against those funds during the quarter, partially offset by owning MicroStrategy stock in an arbitrage trade that was a “material winner.”