#bonds

On Monday, Rivian announced a plan to sell $1.3 billion in bonds as a way to cope with rising production costs.

The news comes just days after the company addressed rumors that it might build as many as 62,000 vehicles through 2023. Despite credible reporting, Rivian said its official production forecast remains set at the original 50,000 electric vehicles by year’s end.

Ford’s been wringing its corporate hands over stock prices for ages. While the market itself is generally rising, the Blue Oval seems to perpetually find itself in Wall Street’s basement. It is arguable that lackluster performance on this front cost Mark Fields his job earlier this year.

Things are not looking up in that department. Yesterday, FoMoCo’s credit rating was cut to Baa3 by Moody’s Investors Service, just a single notch above junk status.

Tesla has been Wall Street’s fair-haired boy as the electric car startup’s share price soared over the past few years. Production figures have not kept pace with Tesla’s market cap, and now problems getting assembly up to speed on the company’s vitally important Model 3 and concerns about its cash burn have resulted in a downgrade of its credit rating from Moody’s Investor Service. That report from Moody’s was issued late on Tuesday.

When trading began on Wednesday morning, Tesla stock opened at $264.76, down 5 percent from the day before. That is almost 14 percent lower than it was at the beginning of the week, and 31 percent lower than in September of 2017, when Tesla’s stock price apparently peaked at $385 a share.

Want in on GM’s IPO without being a sovereign wealth fund or Goldman Sachs? Join the BDSM lifestyle for fun and (possible) profit. Buy the very much troubled pre-bankruptcy bond, and you could make out like a banshee. Reuters has the surprising news that bonds issued by GM’s bankrupt predecessor are a good investment. “GM’s 8.375 percent bonds due July 2033, which were issued by old General Motors Corp. and convert to shares in the new GM, rose 0.375 cent to 35.875 cents on the dollar at 4:29 p.m. in New York.” The day before, the bonds had jumped 2.25 cents, the biggest gain since June 14.

Why the sudden interest in the converting bond?