Tesla stock was positive on Wednesday ahead of Thursday's storm -- in other words, the electric-vehicle maker's annual shareholder meeting.
Shares closed up 4% at $462.07, while the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.4% and 0.5%, respectively.
The move came after Chinese EV maker XPeng hosted a Tesla-like AI day, where it detailed plans to build artificial-intelligence trained humanoid robots and self-driving taxis.
The strategy is very similar to what Tesla is trying to do. That is a risk and an opportunity for Tesla. For starters, it's validating. It shows that others, beyond Tesla, see the potential to use AI to create smart machines. It also represents some competition.
For now, XPeng's competitive threat doesn't look too high. It doesn't do business in the U.S., and it's a much smaller company than Tesla. Still, investors should pay attention to Chinese advancements in robots and robo-taxis.
XPeng's AI day didn't affect Tesla stock negatively on Wednesday. It has been a volatile week for Tesla shares ahead of the shareholder meeting.
Shares rose 2.6% on Monday, closing above $460 a share for only the sixth time, as investors reacted to comments by CEO Elon Musk about expanding Tesla's robo-taxi business by year's end. Shares dropped 5.1% on Tuesday as the market turned lower, and Palantir Technologies shares fell 8% after the company reported third-quarter numbers.
The Tuesday dip also came as Norway's sovereign-wealth fund disclosed that it was voting against Musk's trillion-dollar pay package -- the key item up for vote by shareholders this year.
Musk has said he wants more Tesla stock to keep AI projects inside of Tesla. Failing to award the package would introduce uncertainty for investors and volatility for the stock. Wall Street, however, expects shareholders to approve the deal.
Investors should find out if they did or didn't award Musk's pay by late Thursday.
Coming into Wednesday trading, Tesla stock was up 10% this year and up 77% over the past 12 months.