A Battery Deal Can’t Offset Tesla’s Weak China Sales

Tesla


investors are having a busy week and it’s only Tuesday. Ahead of the week’s main event, an analyst day on Wednesday, investors have to digest news about batteries as well as EV demand in China and new manufacturing capacity in Mexico.

For starters, Tesla (ticker: TSLA) signed a $2.9 billion deal for battery materials with L&F (066970. Korea), a Korean maker of materials for battery cathodes, according to a Google translation of a Korean-language disclosure by L&F. The news sent L&F stock soaring almost 9%, lifting the company’s market value by roughly $500 million to almost $6 billion.