Tesla and SpaceX shares fall in broader US tech sell-off

In a report published at 2.18pm New York time, Reuters said Tesla shares were down more than 11% and SpaceX shares nearly 9%. Both had also fallen on Wednesday.

The declines were part of a broader sell-off. Dutch news agency ANP reported that the Nasdaq was down about 5% during trading on Thursday, while chipmaker Nvidia had fallen 9%.

Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index estimated that Musk’s wealth fell by $33.5 billion, or 3.7%, to around $865 billion on Wednesday, according to reports by ANP and Protos. ANP said further losses appeared likely on Thursday but gave no figure for that day. A fall in the market value of his companies is not the same as a fall in his personal wealth.

Reuters reported that investors were concerned Democratic victories in Tuesday’s midterm elections could slow data centre development and bring tougher scrutiny of Musk’s businesses. Democrats won the races for governor, attorney general and Senate in Texas, where Tesla and SpaceX are headquartered. Musk had spent heavily backing Republicans.

Goldman Sachs analysts estimated that Democratic gains at state and local level were likely to lead to short-term pauses in data centre development, potentially affecting about 45% of planned US capacity expansion, Reuters reported.

Technology shares have been volatile in recent weeks. In October, US tech stocks recovered some ground after losses linked to concerns about interest rates and spending on AI infrastructure.