New York, Jan 8, 2026, 09:46 EST — Regular session
- Tesla shares down about 0.4% early Thursday; slipped as low as $426.75 after opening at $435.60
- U.S. House panel set a Jan. 13 hearing on draft bills that could ease deployment of vehicles without human controls
- Traders eye Friday’s payrolls report and Tesla’s Jan. 28 earnings for the next big catalyst
Tesla shares (TSLA) fell about 0.4% to $431.41 in early trading on Thursday, after opening at $435.60. The stock slid as low as $426.75.
The early move underscores how investors are trading Tesla less like a carmaker and more like a bet on autonomy and software. That pulls policy headlines and rate expectations into the same frame as deliveries and margins.
A House Energy and Commerce panel will hold a Jan. 13 hearing on draft legislation aimed at making it easier to deploy vehicles without human controls. One proposal would lift the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s annual exemption cap to 90,000 vehicles per automaker from 2,500, while other drafts would curb state rules and require federal guidance for advanced driver-assistance systems, or ADAS — features that steer and brake but still require human oversight.
In a Jan. 2 filing, Tesla said it produced 434,358 vehicles and delivered 418,227 in the fourth quarter, and deployed 14.2 gigawatt-hours of energy storage, a record for deployments. It said it will post quarterly results after the market close on Jan. 28 and host a Q&A webcast later that day.
A Tesla director, James Murdoch, disclosed sales of the company’s stock made under a Rule 10b5-1 plan — a pre-set trading program that lets insiders sell on a schedule — in a Form 4 filed this week. The filing showed the transactions took place on Jan. 2 at prices largely in the mid-$400s.
Autonomy stayed in focus at CES in Las Vegas, where Ford (F.N) said it will bring a Level 3 system to market in 2028 — industry shorthand for “eyes-off” driving in limited conditions. Ford’s Doug Field said the company is still weighing how to price it: “We’re focused right now on making it super affordable,” he said. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has argued cameras can solve autonomy without lidar, but Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving” on consumer vehicles is classified as Level 2, which still requires drivers to keep their eyes on the road. Reuters
On the macro side, new filings for U.S. jobless benefits rose 8,000 to 208,000 in the latest week, slightly below economists’ 210,000 forecast in a Reuters poll. A Reuters survey expects December payrolls to rise about 60,000 when the report hits Friday, and Challenger, Gray & Christmas executive Andy Challenger said companies are pivoting faster toward artificial intelligence.
Rate bets are hanging over high-growth stocks. Financial markets are pricing only about a 10% chance of a Fed cut at the Jan. 27-28 meeting, rising to about 55% by late April, Reuters reported.
But Washington has tried and failed before to pass a broad federal framework for self-driving cars, and safety scrutiny can tighten quickly after any high-profile incident. Investors also remain wary of timelines: robotaxis are a great story until the rollout slips.
For Tesla, the next clear test is the company’s Jan. 28 earnings update and outlook, with policymakers’ Jan. 13 hearing and Friday’s jobs report likely to jolt sentiment in between.
