Tesla stock surges toward a 10th

Shares of Tesla Inc. rose Thursday toward a 10th-straight gain, as data out of China showed that the electric vehicle giant sold more cars in May than the previous month.

The stock TSLA, +3.14% surged up 3.7% in midday trading, on track for its highest close since Oct. 6, when it closed at $238.13, and its largest one-day percentage increase since May 30, when it rose 4.14%.

It has charged up 27.3% over the past 10 days. If the stock closes up Thursday, it would be the longest win streak since the 11-day streak that ended Jan. 8, 2021.

The China Passenger Car Association reported overnight that May retail sales of new-energy vehicles, which includes electric and plug-in hybrids, jumped 60.9% from a year ago to 580,000 vehicles, or 33.3% of the total passenger cars sold of 1.74 million, according to a Dow Jones Newswires report.

Tesla delivered 77,695 cars that were made at its Shanghai facility in May, the DJ report said, which is up from 75,842 cars delivered in April but down from the more than 88,800 EVs delivered in March.

Meanwhile, shares of other China-based EV makers were mixed, as Nio Inc.'s stock NIO, -0.32% dropped 1.5%, but Xpeng Inc. shares XPEV, +0.66% climbed 0.9% and Li Auto Inc.'s stock LI, +0.56% tacked on 0.7%.

See also: Tesla Model 3s now qualify for $7,500 in federal tax credits

Tesla generated $4.89 billion in sales from China during the first quarter, or 21.0% of total sales. In 2022, the company's China sales totaled $18.15 billion, or 22.2% of total sales for the year.

Separately, the Associated Press reported that late Wednesday that Tesla may face a class-action lawsuit after 240 Black factory workers described racism and discrimination at the company's plant in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Tesla's stock has soared 89.0% year to date, while the Global X Autonomous and Electric Vehicles exchange-traded fund DRIV, +0.50% has run up 25.4% and the S&P 500 index SPX, +0.36% has advanced 11.6%.

GameStop's board has removed Matt Furlong as CEO. Ryan Cohen was elected executive chairman. The company said sales were down 11% in the latest quarter.

Tomi Kilgore is MarketWatch's deputy investing and corporate news editor and is based in New York. You can follow him on Twitter @TomiKilgore.