New York, Jan 13, 2026, 10:49 EST — Regular session
- Joby Aviation shares dropped roughly 7% in morning trading, wiping out earlier advances.
- Shares of other air-taxi companies also fell, while the broader market edged down slightly following the inflation figures.
- Investors are focused on the Fed’s meeting at the end of January and upcoming deadlines related to Joby’s Ohio facility agreement.
Shares of Joby Aviation, Inc. (JOBY) dropped 6.7% to $14.37 by 10:49 a.m. EST, wiping out an initial gain as the stock swung sharply lower. So far, the price has moved between $15.93 and $14.16, with roughly 11.6 million shares traded.
The decline followed new U.S. inflation figures that failed to boost bets on near-term rate cuts. December saw consumer prices climb 0.3%, while core inflation, excluding food and energy, edged up 0.2%. That left annual rates steady at 2.7% for overall and 2.6% for core. 1
This is crucial for Joby, which is still working toward launching commercial passenger flights. Most of its value hinges on future potential. When growth forecasts change, early-stage, cash-burning stocks often react sharply — and not always due to clear, company-specific news.
The slump wasn’t limited to Joby. Archer Aviation dropped roughly 6.7%, Eve Holding slipped 3.3%, the S&P 500 ETF SPY lost 0.3%, and the Nasdaq-100 tracker QQQ edged down 0.4%.
Company news has been thin this week, pushing the stock to move more on sentiment than fundamentals. Traders remain focused on familiar talking points: scaling production, pilot training, and navigating regulatory hurdles.
Joby announced in its latest current report that it has agreed to purchase a roughly 728,000-square-foot property in Vandalia, Ohio, for $61.5 million, putting $1 million into escrow. The company can back out of the deal over title issues until Jan. 15, with closing scheduled by Feb. 27 at the latest. CEO JoeBen Bevirt described the site as a “base for significant future growth.” 2
Last week, Joby announced it had received the first of two flight simulators built with CAE. The company said these simulators will play a key role in the FAA qualification process and could handle training for up to 250 pilots annually. Bonny Simi, Joby’s president of operations, described the simulators as “central to the FAA certification process” ahead of the company’s planned commercial flights this year. Joby is developing eVTOL aircraft—electric vertical takeoff and landing—and pointed to Part 135 rules, the FAA operating certificate for commercial air-carrier service. 3
The key issue investors keep coming back to is timing. FAA type certification — the go-ahead for the aircraft design — still stands as the main hurdle for flying paying passengers in the US. Any hold-up here ripples through the entire schedule.
The downside risks remain largely intact. Certification schedules might slip, manufacturing scaling could falter, and revenue growth may lag behind market expectations—particularly if financing costs remain high.
Traders are now zeroing in on how rate-sensitive growth stocks perform ahead of the Federal Reserve’s Jan. 27-28 policy meeting. At the same time, all eyes are on Joby to see if it provides new updates on execution as its Ohio purchase agreement approaches key deadlines. 4
