Shares in electric vehicle maker Tesla (TSLA) surged nearly 12% on Monday, rebounding after nine consecutive weeks of losses.
The jump in shares came after Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk urged employees not to sell their stock at a company all-hands meeting last week. Tesla (TSLA) shares had slumped amid concerns over falling sales and a backlash against Musk's role as an adviser to US president Donald Trump, heading up the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Investor optimism that Trump may temper his trade tariff plans, saying on Monday that he may give "a lot of countries breaks" on reciprocal duties, also helped boost the stock.
Renowned US tech investor Cathie Wood said in an interview with Bloomberg in the early hours of Tuesday morning that she remained bullish on Tesla (TSLA) and expected the stock to hit $2,600 (£2,008) in five years, which would be nearly 10 times the current price.
However, figures released on Tuesday showed that Tesla's (TSLA) market share in Europe continued to fall year-on-year in February. Data from the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) showed that Tesla (TSLA) had sold 42.6% fewer vehicles in Europe in January and February.
The carmaker's market share had fallen to 1.8% in February from 2.8% a year ago.
Shares in chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) closed Monday's session nearly 7% in the green, following news of an artificial intelligence (AI) breakthrough from the Jack Ma-backed tech conglomerate, Ant Group.
Bloomberg reported that Ant Group has used Chinese-made chips to develop techniques to train AI models that would reduce costs by 20%.
While Ant reportedly continues to use Nvidia (NVDA) chips for AI development, it is now mainly relying on alternatives produced domestically and from AMD for its latest models.
A spokesperson for Ant Group had not responded to Yahoo Finance UK's request for comment at the time of writing.
Ant is the latest tech company to join the AI race, with competition heating up in the space in the wake of DeepSeek's release of a lower-cost model in January.
Oil major Shell (SHEL.L) announced on Tuesday plans to boost investor returns and cut costs, as it looks to become the leading liquified natural gas (LNG) business.
In an announcement ahead of its "capital markets day", Shell (SHEL.L) pledged to boost shareholder distributions from between 30% and 40% to between 40% and 50% of cash flow from operations. The energy giant said it would continue to prioritise share buybacks and would maintain a 4% per annum progressive dividend policy.
Shell (SHEL.L) also vowed to increase its structural cost reduction target from between $2bn and $3bn by the end of 2025, to between $5bn and $7bn cumulatively by the end of 2028.
In addition, Shell (SHEL.L) said it would lower spending to between $20bn and $22bn per year for 2025 to 2028.
Shares in Shell (SHEL.L) were up nearly 2% on Tuesday, following the announcement.
Maurizio Carulli, global energy and materials analyst at Quilter Cheviot, said: "Under [CEO] Wael Sawan’s leadership, Shell (SHEL.L) is showing commitment to value creation, free cash flow growth and operational improvement. This is the correct strategy in an environment of volatile oil price and geopolitical uncertainty."
Shares in Kingfisher (KGF.L) slid 12% on Tuesday morning after the B&Q owner reported a drop in annual profits.
Kingfisher's sales dipped 1.5% over the year to £12.8bn ($16.6bn), with sales of "big ticket" items falling 4.4%, which the company said reflected weaker trends across the broader market.
Operating profit for the year fell nearly 30% to £407m, while adjusted profit before tax was down 7% to £528m. For the year ahead, Kingfisher guided to adjusted profit before tax of £480m to £540m and announced a new £300m share buyback programme.
Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, said: "Kingfisher is still working to get its own house in order, and the results reveal once more where most of the repair work needs to be done.
He said that the "clear disappointment over the profit guidance grabs the headlines for now and the market consensus of the shares as a 'hold' may come under review as investors reset their more immediate expectations."
Shares in Fevertree (FEVR.L) rose 5% on Tuesday morning, on the back of the tonic maker's preliminary full-year results.
Fevertree's (FEVR.L) revenue increased by 4% over the year to £364m, bolstered by 12% growth in the US. Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation grew by two thirds to £50.7m.
In addition, Fevertree (FEVR.L) said good initial progress had been made with its long-term strategic partnership with global drinks company Molson Coors (TAP), which was announced at the end of January.
Aarin Chiekrie, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.L), said: "Fevertree (FEVR.L) capped off its 2024 financial year with a mixed set of results. While the tonicmaker’s profits rebounded sharply last year, the near-term outlook for profits is weak.
"This comes as Fevertree (FEVR.L) looks to invest and leverage into its new strategic partnership with global beverage company Molson Coors (TAP).
"In return for handing over a stake in its business, Fevertree’s (FEVR.L) getting access to Coors’ broad production, distribution and marketing resources. It’s hoped that this will help drive the next leg of growth in the US, which has already become the tonic maker’s largest market."
