Tesla stock has been downgraded by two influential investment researchers in the wake of boss Elon Musk’s feud with Donald Trump.

Shares in the electric car maker dropped by as much as 4.5pc at the opening bell on Wall Street after analysts warned the company faces an uncertain outlook.

The stock has dropped about 30pc so far this year.

The Tesla boss called for the impeachment of Mr Trump on Thursday in a series of social media posts attacking the president. Mr Trump continued the war of words on Friday when he claimed Mr Musk had “lost his mind”, despite officials claiming he was “over” their public spat.

Argus Research today downgraded Tesla’s stock from buy to hold, saying the feud was emblematic of how the stock “appears to be currently trading on non-fundamentals events”.

Analysts said: “Looking ahead, we are concerned that the war of words between President Trump and Elon Musk, along with expiration of EV credits, could further weaken demand for new Teslas.”

Meanwhile, investment bank Baird downgraded its stock recommendation to neutral.

Analyst Ben Kallo said: “The recent incident between Musk and President Trump exemplifies key-person risk associated with Musk’s political activities.”

He added: “Additionally, we believe this may heighten questions regarding brand damage, which we expect will persist until sustained evidence of volume growth avails itself.”

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Wall Street is up this evening after the start of trade talks in London between the US and China.

The Dow Jones is up 0.1pc, the S&P 500 is up 0.2pc and the Nadaq is up 0.4pc.

Jonas Goltermann, of Capital Economics, said: “With one month to go until the ‘pause’ of the Trump administration’s ‘reciprocal tariffs’ is, at least in principle, set to expire, market participants continue to take a pretty relaxed view of the risks around US trade policy.

“That probably makes sense, given the administration has ultimately shied away from measures that would do major damage to key asset markets, although there may be some renewed jitters as that deadline draws nearer.”

High-tech equipment maker Spectris leapt 64pc today after receiving a more than £3.7bn takeover bid from private equity firm Advent International.

Should a firm offer for the FTSE 250 business be made, “the board has carefully considered the proposal together with its advisers and concluded that the proposal is at a value that the board would be minded to recommend unanimously to Spectris shareholders”, said Spectris.