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ERROR: type should be string, got "https://www.barrons.com/articles/tesla-stock-is-back-in-negative-territory-for-2018-51545674772\nTesla Stock Is Back in Negative Territory for 2018\nDavid Marino-Nachison\nPhotograph by Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images\nShares of Tesla (TSLA) fell back into negative territory for 2018 after a shortened Monday trading session.\nThe shares closed off 7.6% to just over $295 as the major U.S. indexes slid. Investors digested two pieces of news that may have aggravated concerns about demand and profit margins, at least in the near-term—even as neither detail was massively surprising.\nFirst story: Tesla is lowering prices on Model 3 sedans sold in China, which follows its decision to cut Model S and X prices there to make the vehicles “more affordable” given trade worries. (It’s building out production in China to counteract those forces.)\nSecond story: While Elon Musk had already communicated the company’s plans to release cars for sale if the customer who originally reserved them couldn’t take delivery before January in a Dec. 15 tweet, he added another wrinkle over the weekend on Twitter.\nIf Tesla committed to delivery by year-end but couldn’t pull it off—and given “good faith efforts” on the customer’s part to receive their vehicle—the company would cover the portion of the $7,500 federal tax credit the customer would’ve benefited from if the car was delivered in 2018, Musk tweeted.\nThe announcements are a bid to make the credits, which start phasing out next year, available to buyers who want the cars now. If that happens, it would amount to Tesla dropping the price of the vehicles by $3,750. (The company also said it released some less expensive test drive and display vehicles for sale.)\nIt’s unclear how many vehicles this might effect or, for that matter, whether the company will eventually share that information.\nMeanwhile, investors seem to be reading between the lines, worried that the company’s efforts to fire up sales at the close of 2018 don’t bode well for its fourth quarter—and, perhaps, beyond.\nMonday’s move left the shares off more than 3% in 2018 as of the pre-Christmas close—less-steep, however, than the loss of the S&P 500—despite a more than 13% climb in the fourth quarter so far.\nEmail David Marino-Nachison at david.marino-nachison@barrons.com. Follow him at @marinonachison and follow Barron’s Next at @barronsnext."