Tesla and SpaceX shares slide on US midterm election results
Shares of Elon Musk's SpaceX and Tesla slumped Thursday, extending losses, as investors worried Democratic wins in the US midterm elections could slow data center build-outs. The selloff puts Musk's companies on track to lose over $380 billion in market value this week. Tesla shares fell over 11% and SpaceX slid nearly 9% on Thursday. Democrats won Texas races for Senate, governor, and attorney general, where both companies are headquartered. Goldman Sachs estimated Democratic gains could lead to short-term data center moratoria, affecting about 45% of planned US capacity expansion. SpaceX has leaned into AI computing, with over half of its third-quarter sales from renting computing capacity, while Tesla pitches storage systems to data center operators. Analysts said the results could complicate a potential SpaceX-Tesla merger, which Musk endorsed last month, due to a tougher regulatory roadmap.