🥊 Markets Got Rocked

+ Tesla Shares Plunge 15%, Suffering Steepest Drop In 5 Years

March 10, 2025

Good afternoon! Another day, another crash (not the stock market one which we'll dive into)—this one has a miracle ending. A single-engine plane burst into flames after going down in the parking lot of a retirement community, damaging a dozen cars near Lancaster Airport in Pennsylvania on Sunday. All five people on board somehow made it out alive. Thankfully, no one on the ground was injured, though residents were briefly told to shelter in place.

The pilot had reported an open door just before the crash, and air traffic control audio captured a frantic "Pull up!" right before impact. First responders arrived quickly and managed to contain the fire.

MARKETS

*Stock data as of market close*

  • Stocks took a beating Monday as recession worries gripped Wall Street. The S&P 500 dropped 2.7%, hitting its lowest level since September, while the Nasdaq sank 4% — its worst day since 2022. The Dow slid 890 points, or 2.1%, as investors digested Trump’s comments over the weekend, where he hinted that the U.S. could face a "period of transition."

  • The sell-off hammered tech stocks, with Tesla plunging 15% and the other Magnificent Seven names shedding between 2% and 5%. About 70% of S&P 500 components are now down more than 10% from their recent highs, pushing them into correction territory. Defensive sectors like energy, utilities, and consumer staples held up better as investors sought cover.

STOCKS
Winners & Losers

What’s up 📈

  • Redfin skyrocketed 68% after announcing a $1.75 billion all-stock acquisition deal with Rocket Companies. The deal is expected to close later this year. ( $RDFN )

  • Cracker Barrel gained 3.55% after Truist upgraded the restaurant chain to buy, citing increased confidence in its turnaround efforts. ( $CBRL )

  • e.l.f. Beauty climbed 4.75% after Piper Sandler reiterated its overweight rating, pointing to the company’s strength in international markets. ( $ELF )

  • Cognizant Technology added 1% after The Wall Street Journal reported that activist investor Mantle Ridge has built a $1 billion stake in the company, seeing it as undervalued. ( $CTSH )

What’s down 📉

  • Robinhood plunged nearly 20% after Finra fined the platform $26 million and ordered it to pay $3.75 million in restitution for compliance failures. ($HOOD )

  • Coinbase dropped 17.58% after being snubbed for inclusion in the S&P 500 and falling bitcoin prices added further pressure. ( $COIN )

  • Strategy slid 16.68% after bitcoin dropped 4%, dragging down crypto-related names. ( $MSTR )

  • Tesla dropped 15.43% to below $225 per share, extending its seven-week losing streak — the longest in the company’s public history. ( $TSLA )

  • Palantir fell 10%, extending its month-long decline, with shares now down more than 32% over the past month. ( $PLTR )

  • Nvidia shed 5%, extending its recent losses and bringing the stock down more than 20% for the year. ( $NVDA )

  • Broadcom slid 5%, while ASML lost 7% and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing fell 3.64%, as semiconductor stocks continued to sell off. ($AVGO, $ASML, $TSM )

  • Morgan Stanley dropped 6%, while Goldman Sachs lost 5%, JPMorgan and Citigroup each fell 4%, and Bank of America slid nearly 4% as economic slowdown fears weighed on financial stocks. ( $MS, $GS, $JPM, $C, $BAC )

MARKETS
Markets Rocked By Economic Fear Across Wall Street

Markets had a meltdown Monday as Wall Street woke up to the reality that President Trump’s economic overhaul might not be as smooth as advertised. The Nasdaq 100 nosedived nearly 4%—its worst day since 2022—as tech stocks were pummeled. Treasury yields fell sharply as investors ran for safety, and Bitcoin slid to a four-month low. The market’s fear gauge, the VIX, spiked as recession anxiety took hold.

Tariffs, spending cuts, and chaos

The selloff followed Trump’s weekend comments that a “period of transition” was inevitable as his administration pushes new tariffs and spending cuts. Translation: The recession chatter might be legit. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had already floated the idea of a “detox period,” suggesting that short-term economic pain might be necessary to stabilize the long-term outlook. Investors, however, didn’t seem to appreciate the tough-love approach.

Tech stocks take a beating: Big Tech was hit the hardest. Tesla plunged 15%, while the other Magnificent Seven stocks—Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Nvidia, and Meta—fell between 2% and 5%. Investors have been unloading growth stocks since Trump’s economic policies started to materialize, fearing that higher tariffs and geopolitical instability could dent earnings. The Nasdaq’s steep drop pushed it deeper into correction territory.

Flight to safety

Investors scrambled to defensive positions, piling into Treasuries, consumer staples, and utilities—sectors that tend to weather economic storms better. Yields on 2-year Treasury notes dropped 11 basis points as traders braced for the Fed to cut rates to cushion the blow. Energy stocks held up relatively well, with Exxon and Chevron edging higher despite the market carnage.

Short-term pain, long-term gamble: Trump’s economic team argues that the shakeup is necessary to “fix” the economy and reduce the federal deficit. The theory is that short-term pain—like higher tariffs and tighter government spending—could eventually force down inflation, trigger rate cuts, and even boost the real estate market by lowering mortgage rates. But that’s assuming the market holds up long enough to see the benefits. Whether this is just a market correction or the beginning of a deeper downturn remains to be seen. For now, Wall Street isn’t waiting around to find out—it’s moving to the exits.

NEWS
Market Movements

ECONOMY
Tesla Shares Plunge 15%, Suffering Steepest Drop In 5 Years

Tesla’s bad year just got worse. Shares plunged 15% on Monday—the worst drop since 2020—bringing the stock’s 2025 decline to 45% and wiping out over $800 billion in market cap since December. That’s seven straight weeks of losses, the longest losing streak since Tesla’s public debut in 2010. Once the golden child of Wall Street, Tesla is now looking more like a tech stock past its prime.

Sales in Reverse: February’s delivery numbers were ugly. Tesla’s sales in China fell 49%, slumped 76% in Germany, and tumbled 72% in Australia. UBS analyst Joseph Spak slashed his first-quarter delivery forecast from 437,000 to 367,000 and lowered his full-year outlook, expecting a 5% drop in sales for 2025. That’s a far cry from the 10% growth many analysts were predicting.

Musk’s Split Focus Isn’t Helping: Musk’s personal brand was once Tesla’s biggest asset—but now it’s starting to feel like a liability. As Musk splits his attention between Tesla, SpaceX, and Trump’s White House, investors are growing uneasy. His focus on DOGE and recent political antics haven’t helped Tesla’s perception either, with Google searches for "DOGE" recently surpassing those for "Tesla.”

First-Mover Advantage? Not Anymore.

Tesla’s dominance was built on being the first and best in the EV market, but those days are over. Chinese automakers like BYD are offering more affordable models with better tech, and Tesla’s price-cutting strategy seems to have reached its limit. “Tesla fired its magic bullet last year by cutting prices, but that strategy isn’t repeatable,” said Futurum Research’s Olivier Blanchard.

Can Tesla Bounce Back? Wedbush’s Dan Ives thinks this is a “reset year” for Tesla, but it won’t be easy. Musk’s recent attempts to talk up the stock—including his claim that Tesla profits could soar 1,000% over the next five years—have failed to inspire confidence. With falling sales, rising competition, and a distracted CEO, Tesla’s future isn’t looking nearly as shiny as it once did.

Calendar
On The Horizon

Tomorrow

Things start off quiet this week, but the action picks up on Tuesday with the job openings report (JOLTS) and the NFIB small business sentiment index. JOLTS will give investors a fresh read on whether cracks are forming in the labor market, while the NFIB index could offer a reality check on how small businesses are holding up under the weight of tariff uncertainty.

Before Market Open:

  • Kohl’s has been on a losing streak, down over 54% in the last year, and it’s not hard to see why. Same-store sales keep sliding, a new CEO hasn’t sparked a turnaround, and a major debt bill looms this summer. While holiday numbers may look decent, the real concern is whether Kohl’s can avoid getting benched in the quarters ahead. ($KSS)

  • Dick’s Sporting Goods has been putting up solid numbers, thanks to a clean balance sheet, strong cash flow, and a 2% dividend keeping shareholders in the game. This report reflects the holiday shopping season, so expectations are high—but slowing consumer spending could put a dent in future results if customers decide to hold off on splurging for new cleats. ($DKS)

NEWS
The Daily Rundown

RESOURCES
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