SpaceX hits $4.4 billion profit and Tesla merger talk lifts stock markets
Wall Street finished higher on Wednesday as tech stocks bounced.
The short version
- SpaceX posted a first public profit of $4.4 billion.
- The Nasdaq gained 1.05 percent to close at 26,702.86.
Wall Street and Toronto closed higher on Wednesday as blockbuster results from SpaceX and an upgraded outlook from Super Micro Computer reignited the artificial intelligence trade. According to BBN Times, the S&P 500 added 0.58 percent to close at 7,757.17, marking its third straight advance and leaving the index within about 0.8 percent of its all-time high.
The Nasdaq Composite gained 1.05 percent to 26,702.86, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 360.21 points, or 0.69 percent, to 52,856.09, reaching a one-month high. SpaceX, the private rocket and satellite company founded by Elon Musk, was the headline act of the session.
Shares of Elon Musk's rocket and artificial intelligence company rose about 7.8 percent after it reported its first profit as a public company, roughly $4.4 billion, on revenue that jumped 161 percent to $14.6 billion. Its artificial intelligence-focused Super Intelligence segment generated about $7.6 billion in revenue, overtaking the Starlink satellite internet business.
Elon Musk also said a merger between SpaceX and Tesla, the electric vehicle maker, would be a good idea, and both companies have formed special committees to discuss the proposal. Tesla shares rose about 3.4 percent on the news. Meanwhile, Super Micro Computer, the server manufacturer, jumped about 9.5 percent after raising its quarterly revenue outlook to between $18.5 billion and $19.5 billion.
Semiconductor stocks followed the rally, with Nvidia gaining about 2.5 percent and Advanced Micro Devices rising roughly 3.4 percent. The advance came despite a demanding macroeconomic backdrop, with the United States 10-year Treasury yield holding around 5.13 percent and Brent crude trading near $110 a barrel.
For your portfolio, the broader market strength shows that strong corporate earnings can still outweigh interest rate and energy concerns, giving your retirement accounts a steady lift heading into the busiest phase of earnings season.
Photo: NASA/SpaceX, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
