Why Churchill Capital IV shares soar at Monday’s Open

What happened

Actions of Churchill Capital IV (NYSE: CCIV) have more than doubled since the first week of January, when speculation began to circulate that the Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) could take luxury electric vehicle maker Lucid Motors to the stock market.

In pre-marketing Monday morning, Churchill Capital stock jumped nearly 50% before plunging back down. As of 9:30 a.m. EST, the shares were trading 21% above Friday’s closing price.

So what

The jump comes after The Financial Times overnight reported that Lucid was in talks with Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund to build a new EV plant in the kingdom. The Saudi fund is already a major holder of Lucid after investing more than $ 1 billion in 2018.

A condition of the Saudi fund’s investment was for the automaker to build a plant in Saudi Arabia, according to Bloomberg News.

Now what

The Lucid Air luxury sedan will be available with more than 1,000 horsepower and a battery range of 517 miles. The vehicle will compete directly with You’re here. Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson worked as chief engineer on the Tesla Model S sedan.

Lucid’s first vehicles are expected to be available this spring at its manufacturing facility in Arizona. The initial model of the Air sedan will be the Air Dream Edition at $ 161,500. Future models will include the base level Air Pure listed at $ 69,900. Lucid also has plans for a future SUV model, although no details have been released.

Investors should be very aware that there is still no fixed agreement for Churchill Capital to merge with Lucid. This rumor may or may not be true, and the SPAC stock offers now remain speculative.