Shares in Tesla, along with other auto stocks, fell in Thursday's session following reports that president-elect Donald Trump plans to eliminate a consumer tax credit aimed at encouraging electric vehicle (EV) adoption.
Reuters reported that Trump's transition team is planning to nix the $7,500 (£5,921) tax credit, a measure of Democratic president Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
While Trump's transition team reportedly did not comment on what would happen to the subsidy, they said in a statement that the president-elect would deliver on "promises he made on the campaign trail".
Shares in EV maker Tesla fell nearly 6% on Thursday, while rival Rivian Automotive slid more than 14%, and another company in the space, Lucid Group, fell nearly 5%.
The fall in Tesla shares took the company's market valuation back below the $1tn mark, to $998.9bn, with shares having rallied after Trump's election win last week.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, a major supporter of Trump's campaign, had previously said that while eliminating the tax credit might slightly impact the company's sales, the move would be "devastating" to its rivals.
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba is set to report its latest quarterly earnings later on Friday morning, with analysts expecting weaker consumer sentiment to weigh on the results.
The company's Hong Kong-listed shares were down nearly 1% on Friday, while its New York-listed shares were muted in pre-market trading.
Results from fellow Chinese e-commerce company JD.com (9618.HK), released on Thursday, missed investor expectations as concerns around China's economic slowdown persisted.
Meanwhile, stimulus measures announced by China's authorities at the end of last week disappointed investors. However, data released Friday showed retail sales in China grew at their fastest rate in eight months in October, as an encouraging sign for the country's lagging economy.
Shares in vaccine stocks, including Pfizer, fell in later afternoon trading on Thursday as more reports emerged that Trump would name anti-vaccine activist Robert F Kennedy Jr to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
Pfizer closed the session down nearly 3%, while Moderna (MRNA) was down close to 6% and Novavax (NVAX) dropped 7%.
Trump later confirmed this nomination after the market close, saying in a statement on social media platform X that he was "thrilled" to announce Kennedy as his pick for secretary of health and human services.
"The safety and health of all Americans is the most important role of any administration, and HHS will play a big role in helping ensure that everybody will be protected from harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceutical products, and food additives that have contributed to the overwhelming health crisis in this country," Trump wrote on X.
After dropping out of the 2024 presidential race, Kennedy pledged his support to Trump.
Trump said during a rally in late October that he would let Kennedy “go wild” on healthcare in the country, with vaccine stocks heading lower ever since.
Shares in Domino's Pizza surged 7% in after hours trading, after it was revealed that Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B) had bought a stake in the business last quarter.
The conglomerate bought nearly 1.3 million shares in the company at the end of September, according to multiple reports, representing a stake of 3.7% which was worth $549m.
Berkshire Hathaway's portfolio update reportedly showed that it had also purchased a 1% stake in wholesale distributor of swimming pool supplies Pool Corp. (POOL).
Shares in Pool Corp. were up 6% in pre-market trading on Friday morning. Meanwhile, shares in Berkshire Hathaway were flat.
Earlier this week, Bloomberg reported that Berkshire Hathaway's B shares were being packaged into a leveraged exchange-traded fund (ETF), aimed at producing a 200% return on this class of stock.
Disney's stock surged on Thursday, closing the session 6% higher, after the company posted fiscal fourth quarter earnings per share and revenue that beat investor estimates.
Earnings per share came in at $1.14, versus an anticipated $1.10, according to Bloomberg's analyst poll. Disney reported revenue of $22.57bn, compared with expectations of $22.47bn.
Disney's direct-to-consumer (DTC) streaming business — which includes Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ — posted operating income of $321m for the three months ending 28 September. That compares to a loss of $387m in the prior-year period.
For the year ahead, Disney said it expected to generate high-single digit adjusted growth in earnings per share and was targeting $3bn in stock repurchases.
Disney CEO Bob Iger said: "In Q4 we saw one of the best quarters in the history of our film studio, improved profitability in our streaming businesses, a record-breaking 60 Emmy Awards for the company, the continued power of live sports, and the unveiling of an impressive collection of new projects coming to our Experiences segment."
"As a result of our strategies and our focus on managing our businesses for both the near- and long-term, we are differentiating ourselves from traditional competitors, leveraging the deepest and broadest set of entertainment assets in the industry to drive attractive returns and further advance our goals."
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Other companies in the news on Friday 15 November:
