Shares of XPeng Inc.
XPEV,
sank 9.0% in premarket trading Wednesday, which puts them on track for a bear-market correction. The China-based electric vehicle maker’s stock, which was headed for a third-straight drop, was set to open about 22% below the July 28 11-month high of $23.39. Many on Wall Street define a bear market as a decline of 20% or more from a significant bull-market peak. At the July 28 peak, the stock had skyrocketed 197% since it closed at a six-month low of $7.87 on May 30. On Wednesday, the company said Xinzhou Wu, vice president of autonomous driving, has resigned for “personal and family reasons.” The company said Liyun Li, senior director of the autonomous driving team, will assume Wu’s responsibilities. On Tuesday, the company reported a 4.5% drop in July deliveries, while rivals Nio Inc.
NIO,
reported a 103.6% increase and Li Auto Inc.
LI,
reported a 227.5% rise. XPeng’s stock has soared 101.7% year to date through Tuesday, while the Global X Autonomous and Electric Vehicles exchange-traded fund
DRIV,
has advanced 39.1%, the iShares MSCI China ETF
MCHI,
has tacked on 2.6% and the S&P 500
SPX,
has advanced 19.2%.
