Tesla loses more than quarter of a trillion in a month as rally fizzles

Shares of Tesla Inc closed lower for a fifth consecutive session on Monday, caught in a tech-led selloff that has wiped more than $277 billion off the company’s market value over the last month.

High-flying tech stocks, which powered the market’s rebound from the pandemic lows in March last year, have been hit by a one-two punch of rising yields and investors shifting funds to sectors poised to benefit from a recovery in the global economy aided by accelerated rollouts of COVID-19 vaccines.

“People went into this stock super aggressively to drive it from $40 to $900, and that means will usually come out just as fast,” said Roth Capital Partners analyst Craig Irwin.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq index has declined more than 10.5% over the last three weeks. Tesla’s shares fell as much as 6.5% on Monday, while peers Nio Inc and Li Auto closed down 7.6% and 5.0% respectively.

The broader auto industry has been pressured by a global semiconductor chip shortage, which has caused a major delay in manufacturing activities and forced many companies to scale down production.