What Happened?
Shares of electric vehicle manufacturer Rivian (NASDAQ: RIVN) jumped 9.1% in the afternoon session after the broader market rebounded from a tech-driven sell-off, with investors taking the opportunity to buy stocks at lower prices.
This rally was fueled by a recovery in technology stocks and a significant bounce in Bitcoin, which stabilized after losing over half its value from its October peak. Investor sentiment was also lifted by a surprising improvement in U.S. consumer sentiment and the realization that massive AI-related capital expenditure, such as Amazon's planned $200 billion, directly benefits chipmakers like Nvidia and Broadcom. These "pick-and-shovel" winners jumped as much as 7%, helping the S&P 500 edge back into positive territory for 2026. The highlight of the day was the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which surged and crossed the historic 50,000 threshold for the first time.
The shares closed the day at $14.81, up 8.1% from previous close.
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What Is The Market Telling Us
Rivian’s shares are extremely volatile and have had 32 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 23 days ago when the stock dropped 9% on the news that UBS downgraded the electric vehicle maker's stock to 'Sell' from 'Neutral', citing a less favorable risk-to-reward outlook. The firm expressed concern that market enthusiasm for Rivian's AI and self-driving technology may have already peaked. An analyst with UBS noted that Rivian's free cash flow burn was likely to increase to $4 billion or more due to higher spending. The downgrade also reflected worries about high expectations for the company's upcoming R2 vehicle launch, with UBS forecasting sales for 2026 and 2027 to be significantly below consensus estimates. This negative sentiment was compounded by reports that the company delivered fewer vehicles in 2025 than in the prior year and came as the broader North American EV market showed signs of slowing, with sales declining 4% in 2025 after some incentives were rolled back.
Rivian is down 23.9% since the beginning of the year, and at $14.78 per share, it is trading 34.2% below its 52-week high of $22.45 from December 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Rivian’s shares at the IPO in November 2021 would now be looking at an investment worth $146.68.
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