Why Ford Motor Stock Sank Today

None of this is great news for truck maker Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F), which needs a healthy economy to support consumers buying more of its trucks -- and there's even more bad news today, "helping" to drive Ford shares down 2.1% (as of 1:05 p.m. ET). Specifically, Ford seems intent on taking a page from Tesla's playbook, and shifting its sales model to permit customers to buy Ford's new line of electric vehicles (such as the Mustang Mach-E, the F-150 Lightning, and the E-Transit electric van) entirely online. From Ford's perspective, this is a logical move, because (as The Wall Street Journal reports), it costs Ford about $2,000 more to sell a truck via its dealer network than it does when that same truck is sold directly to the consumer.