SpaceX Soars as Musk Floats Tesla Merger
SpaceX shares jump more than 7 percent in premarket trading after a blockbuster quarter, as Musk says both companies are studying what could become the largest merger in history.
Market Snapshot
All figures are indicative opening levels as of this morning, October 21.
Stocks closed mixed Tuesday: the Dow added 1.02 percent to around 52,495.88, the S&P 500 rose 0.28 percent to around 7,712.57, and the Nasdaq slipped a touch to around 26,424.82.
Gold firmed slightly to around $4,147.70 while silver ticked higher to around $57.69, and oil led commodities higher, up 1.42 percent to around $99.21 on Middle East supply concerns.
The real action came after Tuesday’s close, when SpaceX’s earnings set up Wednesday’s premarket rally across space and AI names.
SpaceX jumped around 7.4 percent in premarket trading to around $158.70 after third-quarter revenue grew 161 percent.
Tesla rose around 1.4 percent to around $378.95 and CoreWeave gained around 2.5 percent to around $63.70 as the AI cloud trade rallied alongside it.
Main Story
SpaceX’s blowout third quarter gave Elon Musk the platform to float an idea investors have speculated about for years: combining his two biggest companies.
- SpaceX reported third-quarter revenue of $14.6 billion, up 161 percent year over year and above the $12.72 billion analysts expected, with its Super Intelligence segment growing ninefold to $7.56 billion and next-quarter guidance nearly 50 percent above Wall Street’s estimate.
- On the earnings call, Musk said SpaceX and Tesla have each formed board committees to study a merger, telling investors there is “a lot to be gained from cooperating” as the companies approach what he called the superintelligence singularity.
- JPMorgan says the real obstacle isn’t Tesla shareholders, it’s Beijing: SpaceX’s defense contracts and lack of Starlink approval in China collide with Tesla’s large Chinese manufacturing footprint, on top of a governance gap between Musk’s SpaceX and Tesla voting stakes.
Chart of the Day
SpaceX shares jumped more than 7 percent in premarket trading Wednesday to around $158.70, one of its sharpest moves since its June Nasdaq debut, after Tuesday’s earnings beat and Musk’s merger comments.
The move pushed shares back above both the 50-day moving average near $151.95 and the 200-day moving average near $153.74, levels that had capped the stock since it pulled back from its post-IPO highs.
The question now is whether the rally holds once investors weigh the China regulatory hurdles JPMorgan flagged, or whether Tesla’s own earnings after Wednesday’s close overshadow the SpaceX story.
Technical Trading
A few levels worth watching on SpaceX, pulled from investing.com’s Tuesday technical summary:
- The 14-day RSI closed Tuesday at 47.3, neutral territory that leaves plenty of room to run before the stock looks overbought.
- The MACD reading of negative 0.95 Tuesday was still bearish, though premarket buying is already working to reverse it.
- Shares are pressing back above both the 50-day ($151.95) and 200-day ($153.74) moving averages, converting prior resistance into potential support.
Global News
- U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff is heading to Russia for talks with Putin, even as Zelenskyy insists on “nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine.”
- France’s 10-year bond yield hit 5 percent for the first time since 2002 as political unrest and a widening budget standoff rattle investors.
- UK inflation jumped to 3.5 percent in September, complicating the Bank of England’s path on interest rates.
- Oil prices climbed as traders weighed fresh Middle East developments against tight supply.
Texas News
Fifth Third Bank is expanding into Fort Worth, filing plans for five new Tarrant County branches as part of a broader push into North Texas.
The move adds another well-capitalized competitor to a Dallas-Fort Worth banking market already drawing major players chasing the region’s growth.
Looking Ahead
Wednesday, October 21: AT&T reports before the opening bell while Texas Instruments and Tesla report after the close, with Tesla’s print carrying extra weight given Wednesday’s merger speculation.
Thursday, October 22: Weekly jobless claims and mortgage data are due, giving investors a fresh read on the labor market after a choppy week for rate-sensitive sectors.
The Y’all Street Podcast
Evan talks with Wasif Latif, Co-Founder and CIO of Sarmaya Partners, about his “Return to Tangibles” thesis: markets shifting from tech and long-duration financial assets toward energy, metals, commodities, and infrastructure. They cover what’s changed since the 2008 financial crisis, and frame AI as much a physical infrastructure story (power, natural gas, copper, uranium) as a software one. Latif ties it back to how he’s positioning around that view through Sarmaya’s LENS ETF.
Prices from Yahoo Finance, CNBC and Fortune. Technical levels from Investing.com and FXStreet. News from Reuters, Al Jazeera and CNBC.
For informational purposes only. Not investment advice. Prices are indicative opening levels and may differ from your broker.
