Tesla shares soar after election win for Donald Trump

Shares in Tesla have soared after an election win for Donald Trump that had been strongly backed by chief executive Elon Musk in the closing months of the presidential race.

Shares in electric vehicle maker Tesla soared on Wednesday after an election win for Donald Trump, who was strongly backed by chief executive Elon Musk in the closing months of the presidential race.

Tesla stands to make significant gains under a Trump administration, with the threat of diminished subsidies for alternative energy and electric vehicles harming smaller competitors.

According to the Energy Information Administration, Tesla leads the US electric vehicle market with 48.9 percent through mid-2024.

Rivian Automotive shares fell 8.4 percent as the company's stock soared 14.5 percent on Wednesday.

Mr Trump has proposed tariffs of 10% to 20% on foreign goods, which will also hit electric vehicle makers outside the US, particularly in China, and shares of EV makers there also fell in US markets.

"Tesla has unmatched scale and scope," Wedbush analyst Dan Ives wrote in a note to investors. "This dynamic could give Musk and Tesla a clear competitive advantage in a non-EV subsidy environment, coupled with likely higher China tariffs that would continue to push away cheaper Chinese EV players."

Subsidies for clean energy are included in the Inflation Reduction Act, which was signed into law by Joe Biden in 2022. It included tax credits for manufacturing and consumer purchases of electric vehicles.

Mr Musk was one of Mr Trump's largest donors, personally contributing more than $70m to the presidential campaign and other Republican causes. He also pledged to give away $1m a day to voters who signed a petition for his political action committee.

Meanwhile, as investors bet that Mr Trump's victory will benefit cryptocurrencies, the price of bitcoin hit a new high and crypto-related shares rallied.

Bitcoin rose nearly 8 percent in early trading, climbing above $75,000 and breaking its previous record set in March. Other cryptocurrencies also soared, including ether, the world's second most popular cryptocurrency after bitcoin, which gained 8 percent.

Another token, dogecoin, surged as much as 18 percent, and it is Mr Musk's favorite cryptocurrency.

Mr Trump, who was once a crypto skeptic, changed his mind and embraced cryptocurrencies ahead of the election.

He has pledged to make America "the crypto capital of the world" and establish a "strategic reserve" of bitcoin.

His campaign accepted cryptocurrency donations and he courted crypto enthusiasts at a bitcoin conference in July. He also launched World Liberty Financial, a new venture with family members to trade cryptocurrencies.

In other news, the parent company of Mr Trump's social networking site Truth Social lost $19.2m in the last quarter, according to an earnings statement.

Much of that loss was due to more than $12m in legal costs and a decline in revenue, according to a surprise Election Day earnings report from Trump Media and Technology Group.

Its stock price rose 3 percent on Wednesday after earlier surging nearly 35 percent, but that was more likely due to Mr Trump's defeat of Kamala Harris to reclaim the presidency than to its profit prospects.

Revenue for the three-month period ending September 30 was just over $1m, down nearly 6 percent year-over-year. Trump Media has lost more than $363m so far this year.