Nasdaq Jumps 0.72% to 26,615.21 as SpaceX and Super Micro Earnings Reignite AI Stocks; Netflix Slumps 3.44%

Mumbai, Oct 21: US equity benchmarks opened firmly higher on Wednesday, 21 October 2026, as blockbuster quarterly results from Space Exploration Technologies Corp. and Super Micro Computer Inc. revived buying interest across artificial intelligence-linked stocks, offsetting a sharp slide in Netflix Inc. following disappointing forward guidance. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite climbed 190.39 points, or 0.72%, to 26,615.21 in early trade, while the benchmark S&P 500 advanced 19.85 points, or 0.26%, to 7,732.42. The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average added 99.57 points, or 0.19%, to 52,595.45, and the small-cap Russell 2000 rose 14.74 points, or 0.53%, to 2,788.16. The session followed a mixed close on Tuesday, when the Dow jumped 529.85 points, or 1.02%, to 52,495.88-its highest closing level in more than a month-the S&P 500 gained 21.84 points, or 0.28%, to 7,712.57, and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 6.07 points, or less than 0.1%, to 26,424.82. Wednesday’s opening bell prints showed the Dow at 52,652.85, the S&P 500 at 7,736.43 and the Nasdaq at 26,601.73, with the Dow trading in a day’s range of 52,438.56 to 52,711.93 and the Nasdaq between 26,525.25 and 26,624.95 shortly after the open. Trading volumes were robust, with Nasdaq Composite turnover at 1,556,541,000 shares against an average of 8,125,689,218, the S&P 500 at 316,337,913 against an average of 5,062,558,906, and Dow volume of 46,272,977 against a typical 449,720,312. Across the 52-week frame, the Nasdaq has ranged between 20,690.25 and 27,722.75, the S&P 500 between 6,316.91 and 7,844.52, the Dow between 45,057.28 and 54,744.33, and the Russell 2000 between 2,303.46 and 3,069.71.

Nasdaq Climbs 190.39 Points to 26,615.21 as AI Stocks Return

The opening advance was concentrated in semiconductor and AI infrastructure names, a reversal from Tuesday’s session when information technology lagged while healthcare, real estate and utilities led. Wednesday’s move lifted the VanEck Semiconductor ETF by more than 1%, the Roundhill Memory ETF by 3.5% and the iShares Semiconductor ETF by 2%, while the Roundhill Magnificent Seven ETF edged higher.

Within the Nasdaq 100, Nvidia Corp. gained 1.65%, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. added 1.81%, ASML Holding NV rose 2.58%, Applied Materials Inc. climbed 1.74%, Lam Research Corp. advanced 1.72%, Texas Instruments Inc. added 2.08%, Micron Technology Inc. gained 0.74%, Seagate Technology Holdings plc rose 2.50% and Western Digital Corp. advanced 1.87%, while Intel Corp. slipped 0.10% and Marvell Technology Inc. eased 0.04%. Palantir Technologies Inc. rose 1.87%, CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. added 2.48% and Palo Alto Networks Inc. gained 1.27%. The broader participation was visible in equal-weighted measures, with the Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF up 1.15% and the Direxion Nasdaq-100 Equal Weighted ETF ahead by 0.7%.

The S&P 500’s day range held between 7,722.08 and 7,738.70 in early trade, indicating that gains were distributed rather than confined to a handful of mega-cap names, even as Alphabet Inc. weighed on the communication services complex with Class A shares down 2.04% and Class C shares down 2.05%.

SpaceX Surges 9.99% to $162.56 on $14.58 Billion Revenue Beat

Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ: SPCX) led the advance, with shares surging 9.99%, or $14.77, to $162.56 after the Elon Musk-led company reported its first quarterly profit as a publicly listed entity. Third-quarter revenue reached $14.58 billion, a 161% year-on-year increase, comfortably exceeding analyst expectations of $12.74 billion. Earnings per share came in at $0.35 against a consensus estimate of $0.14.

The stock had risen as much as 8% in premarket trading before extending gains after the opening bell, and its market capitalisation stood at approximately $2.135 trillion. Volume totalled 44.198 million shares against a three-month average of 95.611 million. The shares remain 8.18% lower over the trailing 52 weeks and have traded between $104.83 and $225.64 during that period. SpaceX’s results were accompanied by guidance for fourth-quarter capital expenditure of $35 billion to $40 billion, roughly double the $19.6 billion deployed in the third quarter, a level consistent with hyperscaler-scale AI investment.

Musk told investors on the earnings call that the company intends to focus on selling AI compute at spot prices, citing substantial industry demand for capacity. Up to 1.3 billion shares are scheduled to unlock on Thursday in the largest release since listing, although prior unlock events have had limited impact on the stock price, according to the company’s trading history.

Super Intelligence Books $7.6 Billion as AI Topples Starlink

The composition of SpaceX’s revenue underscored how rapidly the company’s business mix has shifted. Its artificial intelligence segment, recently renamed “Super Intelligence,” generated $7.6 billion in the third quarter, exceeding the combined contribution of Starlink and the rocket launch business and accounting for more than half of total sales.

A year earlier, AI represented roughly 15% of revenue; in SpaceX’s first report as a public company it accounted for about one-third, and one quarter later Starlink lost its position as the largest segment. The company attributed $6.7 billion of incremental Super Intelligence solutions and infrastructure revenue year-on-year to cloud services agreements, the acquisition of Cursor, and growth in its Super Intelligence models and software applications, including Grok Bot. Investors who originally bought the stock for rockets and satellite broadband are now effectively holding an AI cloud business, a shift that has re-rated the equity alongside other compute providers.

The disclosure also rippled through adjacent names, with CoreWeave Inc. rising 2.5% after a 25% decline last week on concerns about debt-funded expansion, and neocloud and AI hardware suppliers attracting renewed interest.

Also Read: How to Invest in US Stocks From India?

Tesla Gains 3.74% as Musk Confirms SpaceX Merger Committees

Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) rose 3.74%, or $12.84, to $386.55 ahead of its quarterly results, which were scheduled for release after the closing bell on Wednesday. The advance followed Musk’s confirmation on SpaceX’s earnings call that both companies have formed special committees of independent directors to examine a potential merger. Responding to an analyst question, Musk described the topic as one where he felt he was “tap dancing through a minefield” before disclosing the committee formations, and said a combination would be a “good idea.” A merged entity would carry a combined market value of approximately $3.5 trillion.

No final decision on a transaction has been announced. Tesla shares had closed at $373.71 on Tuesday, up 1.5%, and the stock is widely held across exchange-traded funds focused on innovation, where Tesla and SpaceX rank as the two largest holdings. Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ: META) gained 2.11% to trade near $693.00 ahead of its own report after the close, with analysts projecting earnings of $5.74 per share on revenue of $63.37 billion. International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) slipped 1.11% to $239.23 before its release, having risen 1.09% within the Dow heatmap earlier in the session.

Super Micro Soars 11.13% on $18.5-19.5 Billion Sales Outlook

Super Micro Computer Inc. (NASDAQ: SMCI) jumped 11.13%, or $4.37, to $36.84 after the AI server manufacturer raised its fiscal first-quarter revenue outlook to $18.5 billion to $19.5 billion, up from prior guidance of $14.5 billion to $15.5 billion, citing increased demand for AI platforms. Analysts had expected $11.84 billion for the quarter ended 30 September.

Gross margins are now projected at 12.0% to 12.5%, compared with the previous range of 10.4% to 10.8%, which the company attributed to customer and product mix. The preliminary figures were issued ahead of a scheduled earnings call on 3 November. The stock remains 38.15% lower over 52 weeks and has traded between $19.48 and $54.53, with a market capitalisation of $23.831 billion and a trailing price-to-earnings multiple of 9.86. Volume reached 21.831 million shares against a three-month average of 44.812 million. The update lifted sentiment across server and hardware suppliers, with Dell Technologies Inc. (NYSE: DELL) gaining 5.69% to $487.81, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. advancing in sympathy, and Vertiv Holdings Co rising 5.80% to $215.36. Dell’s move came alongside a 5.20% gain in the S&P 500 heatmap and a 207.44% advance over the trailing 52 weeks.

Netflix Falls 3.44% to $66.33 on Weak Q4 Guidance

Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) was the session’s heaviest large-cap drag, falling 3.44%, or $2.36, to $66.33 after the streaming company issued fourth-quarter guidance below expectations. Netflix reported third-quarter earnings per share of $0.87 on revenue of $12.87 billion, compared with analyst estimates of $0.82 and $12.88 billion respectively. For the fourth quarter, the company projected earnings of $0.67 per share on revenue of $13.44 billion, both below consensus, and lowered its advertising revenue guidance for full-year 2026.

The shares had fallen as much as 6.8% in premarket trading and are down more than 25% year-to-date, on course for their lowest level since mid-2024. The stock trades within a 52-week range of $65.08 to $116.73 and is 38.47% lower over that span, with a market capitalisation of $276.194 billion and a trailing multiple of 22.01.

Volume of 21.786 million shares compared with a three-month average of 34.34 million. The guidance cut follows a workforce reduction of about 6% announced recently and extends a downtrend that has persisted for more than a year, with the advertising tier and engagement metrics remaining central to the company’s growth narrative.

Also Read: What Is an S&P 500 ETF? A Simple Guide for Indian Investors

Chip Stocks Rebound as Nvidia Gains 1.65% and AMD 1.81%

The semiconductor complex staged a recovery after the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index suffered eight consecutive sessions of declines, its longest losing streak in 18 years, leaving the gauge near two-month lows.

Wednesday’s gains were broad, with Credo Technology Group Holding Ltd surging 6.41% to $182.50, Vicor Corporation climbing 6.39% to $217.19, Axcelis Technologies Inc. adding 5.27% to $118.88, Analog Devices Inc. rising 1.47%, Qualcomm Inc. adding 0.45%, KLA Corp. gaining 1.39% and Cadence Design Systems Inc. advancing 1.70%.

Synopsys Inc. rose 1.84%, Applied Digital Corporation gained 5.05% to $20.31, and Bloom Energy Corporation added 3.95% to $231.54. Outside technology, Datadog Inc. jumped 5.03% to $269.33 with a trailing multiple of 530.84, while Twilio Inc. and other software names traded firmer. The rebound coincided with comments from Nvidia’s chief executive in Berlin urging European companies to accelerate AI adoption, where he introduced a modular data centre system designed to cut deployment times from months to days. Europe currently accounts for about 5% of global AI computing capacity against roughly 75% in the United States, and Nvidia has invested $10 billion in European partners over the past year alongside new safety software for managing AI applications.

AT&T Slides 4.54% Despite $32.3 Billion Revenue Beat

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) fell 4.54%, or $1.07, to $22.39 even after the telecommunications group reported third-quarter adjusted earnings of $0.65 per share on revenue of $32.3 billion, beating estimates of $0.60 per share on $31.69 billion. The shares had dropped as much as 5% in premarket trading and remain 8.34% lower over 52 weeks, within a range of $19.89 to $29.44, with a market capitalisation of $153.391 billion and a trailing multiple of 7.65. Volume of 16.33 million shares compared with an average of 45.934 million.

Other post-earnings decliners included Philip Morris International Inc., down 2.89%, and United Airlines Holdings Inc., which slipped about 0.5%. Abbott Laboratories declined 2.88% in the S&P 500 heatmap. On the winning side, Capital One Financial Corp. surged 3.62% after reporting quarterly earnings of $6.69 per share on revenue of $16.34 billion, beating consensus of $5.50 per share on $16.26 billion.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. added 1.40%, Morgan Stanley rose 1.01%, American Express Co. gained 1.16%, BlackRock Inc. added 0.36% and S&P Global Inc. rose 0.60%, supporting the financials segment of the benchmark.

Thermo Fisher, Danaher and Intuitive Surgical Diverge on Earnings

Healthcare results produced contrasting reactions. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE: TMO) initially dropped more than 2% in premarket trading despite reporting adjusted earnings of $6.69 per share on revenue of $12.14 billion, above estimates of $6.40 and $11.95 billion, before recovering to trade 0.98% higher at $694.09. The stock had risen more than 31% in the three months to Tuesday’s close and is up more than 18% this year.

Danaher Corporation (NYSE: DHR) fell nearly 4% premarket after third-quarter revenue of $6.55 billion narrowly missed the $6.56 billion consensus, though adjusted earnings of $2.11 per share beat expectations of $1.92 and the company raised full-year earnings guidance; the shares subsequently traded 2.70% higher at $230.30. Intuitive Surgical Inc. (NASDAQ: ISRG) slid 2.80% after third-quarter earnings of $3.00 per share excluding certain items on revenue of $3.05 billion failed to impress, with the company narrowing full-year guidance. The health care sector nonetheless remained a source of strength, with the Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund up 2.4% and the NYSE Arca Pharmaceutical Index having closed Tuesday at a two-month high after a 2.8% gain.

Brent Holds Near $109 as Iran Talks Face Fresh Doubts

Crude markets remained a central influence on sentiment. Brent crude futures hovered near $109 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate traded close to $100, with the US benchmark up 1.65% at about $99.43 in the early New York session after earlier trading near $97.60. Tuesday’s session had seen the expiring November WTI contract fall 1.80% to $101.79 after touching $110.48, snapping a 17.4% rally over the preceding eight sessions, following reports that negotiators from Qatar and Pakistan had presented a compromise proposal aimed at reducing tensions between Washington and Tehran.

Those hopes were subsequently tempered, with Iran’s security chief stating publicly that “not a single gram of enriched uranium will be removed from Iran” and that there would be no negotiations until the United States takes steps to build trust. Reports also indicated that Iran had told Pakistan’s army chief that talks would not proceed until demands were met, including an end to a port blockade, the lifting of sanctions on oil exports and a halt to hostilities on all regional fronts.

Supply flows remained resilient, with Saudi Arabia’s crude exports rising 7.9% in August to 4.451 million barrels per day, the highest since March, even as overall production touched a record low and regional shipping faced disruption.

Treasury Yields at 5.12% Before Fed; 85.1% Hold Odds

Government bond markets were steady ahead of next week’s Federal Reserve policy meeting. The 10-year Treasury yield held at 5.1190% before easing to about 5.10%, down nearly two basis points from Tuesday’s close, while the 2-year note yielded 4.7889% and the 30-year bond yielded 5.4264%. Markets priced an 85.1% probability that the central bank would leave rates unchanged at its October meeting.

Recent economic data showed price pressures broadening beyond energy, a development that has supported expectations of a further rate increase, and the combination of elevated crude prices and firm bond yields framed the backdrop against which equity earnings were being assessed. The dollar index was little changed at 101.7926 before easing to 101.67, while gold spot prices slipped 0.2% to about $4,117 per ounce and gold futures rose 0.4% to $4,160 an ounce. Bitcoin traded at $83,340, up 2.3% over 24 hours.

SpaceX: Hawthorne-Based Rocket, Satellite and AI Group (SPCX)

Space Exploration Technologies Corp., listed on Nasdaq under the ticker SPCX, is headquartered in Hawthorne, California, and operates rocket launch services, the Starlink satellite broadband network and an AI infrastructure and cloud services division branded Super Intelligence. Led by chief executive Elon Musk, the company recently completed its public listing and has expanded rapidly into AI compute through cloud services agreements, the acquisition of Cursor and software products including Grok Bot. Its Starlink constellation provides global broadband connectivity, while the launch division conducts commercial and government missions.

Dell Gains 5.69% and Datadog 5.14% Among Top Gainers

Beyond the headline names, the session’s leaderboard featured a broad set of gainers. FTAI Aviation Ltd rose 8.41% to $171.20, EchoStar Corporation added 6.04% to $91.61, Solaris Energy Infrastructure Inc. gained 5.98% to $67.11, Tango Therapeutics Inc. advanced 5.90% to $26.74, Twist Bioscience Corporation rose 5.52% to $150.57, 10x Genomics Inc. climbed 5.23% to $75.19, Weatherford International plc added 5.18% to $83.45, ICON plc rose 4.70% to $182.38, Firefly Aerospace Inc. gained 5.06% to $17.14 and Veradermics Incorporated advanced 4.27% to $132.54. Decliners included Telix Pharmaceuticals Ltd, down 9.68% to $10.08, TAL Education Group, down 7.26% to $10.73, Hesai Group, down 6.50% to $13.08, Wingstop Inc., down 5.45% to $123.21, XPeng Inc., down 5.10% to $9.40, Dycom Industries Inc., down 4.56% to $240.52, Freshpet Inc., down 4.50% to $63.08, Ero Copper Corp., down 4.41% to $31.45, Southern Copper Corporation, down 4.18% to $193.89 and Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc., down 4.15% to $28.42. Chinese American depositary receipts retreated, with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd down 2.98% to $105.43, JD.com Inc. down 2.93% to $25.98, Kingsoft Cloud Holdings Ltd down 2.96% to $8.53 and New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc. down 2.68% to $59.53.

Mortgage Demand Drops 5.3% Despite Rate Cut to 7.41%

Housing data offered a counterpoint to equity strength. Total mortgage application volume fell 5.3% last week from the prior week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally adjusted index, even as the average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances of $832,750 or less decreased to 7.41% from 7.50%, with points easing to 0.75 from 0.83 for loans with a 20% down payment.

“Mortgage rates decreased for the first time in over two months,” said Joel Kan, an economist at the association, adding that lower rates were not enough to boost application activity as both purchase and refinance applications continued to decline. The data followed a 2.6% rise in the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index on Tuesday and a 2.2% gain in the SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF on Wednesday, with M/I Homes Inc. down 3.28% to $119.99 and Equity LifeStyle Properties Inc. down 3.68% to $59.69 among real estate decliners. Overseas, Asian markets were mixed, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 up 0.85%, South Korea’s Kospi up 3.29%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng down 0.92% and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 up 0.16%, while European benchmarks advanced, with the Stoxx 600 up 0.4%, France’s CAC 40 up 0.4% and Germany’s DAX up 0.5%.

US equities opened higher on 21 October 2026, with the Nasdaq Composite up 0.72% at 26,615.21, the S&P 500 up 0.26% at 7,732.42, the Dow up 0.19% at 52,595.45 and the Russell 2000 up 0.53% at 2,788.16, as SpaceX rose 9.99% on $14.58 billion quarterly revenue and Super Micro gained 11.13% on a $18.5-19.5 billion outlook. Netflix fell 3.44%, Tesla rose 3.74%, Brent held near $109 and the 10-year yield stood at 5.12%.

Source

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