New York, January 12, 2026, 11:17 EST — Regular session
- Tesla shares nudged up as investors grappled with inflation concerns and awaited the Fed’s next rate moves
- The U.S. releases a crucial CPI report Tuesday; Tesla’s earnings follow later this month
- Investors are closely eyeing if Tesla can finally meet its autonomy targets following multiple delays
Tesla shares climbed 0.7% to $448.09 in late morning trading Monday, after fluctuating between $438.01 and $449.91. The stock kicked off the day at $441.17, with roughly 23.7 million shares changing hands.
The timing is crucial as a major U.S. inflation report drops Tuesday, with the potential to shake up interest rate forecasts. The Consumer Price Index, tracking what Americans pay overall, is set for release at 8:30 a.m. ET.
Tesla is gearing up for its upcoming quarterly report, with investors eager to see new data on margins and demand following a volatile start to the year for growth stocks. The company’s investor relations calendar sets the fourth-quarter earnings release for Jan. 28.
Talk of Tesla’s 2026 roadmap has resurfaced this week, largely fueled by its autonomy ambitions. Morningstar analyst Seth Goldstein dubbed 2026 “the prove-it year for Tesla’s robotaxi business.” Elon Musk weighed in on the upcoming Cybercab, saying, “I think the demand will be pretty nutty.” Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla’s Autopilot and AI software lead, flagged more than six billion miles on supervised Full Self-Driving — Tesla’s driver-assistance system — as “a big milestone.” Still, AutoPacific’s Robby DeGraff cautioned that 2026 might prove “a bit of a challenge.” Business Insider
Macro noise weighed on markets. Gold surged to a record $4,600 an ounce Monday after news of a criminal probe into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell rattled investors, dragging Wall Street futures down earlier in the session.
Rates remain in focus. J.P. Morgan now expects the Fed to raise rates only in 2027, while Barclays and Goldman Sachs have shifted their forecast for rate cuts to mid-2026, Reuters reported. This follows data showing the labor market isn’t weakening quickly. Traders saw a 95% chance the Fed holds steady at its January meeting, per CME FedWatch via Reuters.
Tesla reported earlier this month that it produced more than 434,000 vehicles and delivered over 418,000 in the fourth quarter. The company also set a new high by deploying 14.2 gigawatt-hours of energy storage.
The stock remains priced like a promise, and those can easily unravel. A hiccup in expanding driverless service, stricter autonomous driving regulations, or renewed EV price cuts could hit hard—especially if bond yields climb once more.
