Companies Keep Posting Solid Results. Stocks Climbed Again.
Stocks climbed again on Wednesday as companies keep posting solid quarterly results and traders look past geopolitical tensions.
The S&P 500 gained 0.58, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average did so 0.69%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite overperformed, jumping 1.05% as it continues to recover from last week’s losses.
The market was buoyed by SpaceX, which jumped after reporting a sharp increase in third-quarter revenue and a return to profitability as it expands its artificial intelligence business and Starlink continues to grow.
Elon Musk’s company generated $14.58 billion in revenue for the three months ended September 30, exceeding analysts’ forecast of $12.72 billion. Net income reached $4.4 billion, compared with expectations of $1.57 billion. The results reversed a $541 million loss in the second quarter. Its stock is jumping on Wednesday, climbing almost 8%.
The earnings report also showed how rapidly SpaceX’s business is changing. Its Super Intelligence division generated approximately $7.6 billion in quarterly revenue, roughly nine times its year-earlier level and almost triple the previous quarter’s total, according to the Financial Times.
That put AI-related operations ahead of the company’s other businesses by revenue, accounting for more than half of total sales. The expansion has increasingly tied SpaceX’s financial performance to demand for computing infrastructure alongside its established space and satellite operations.
In contrast, tensions keep rising in the geopolitical front. A new report detailed that the U.S. is preparing departure orders for some personnel in Gulf embassies amid climbing tensions with Iran and Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
The move is particularly related to hostilities with the Houthis and Saudi Arabia, Reuters detailed. The U.S. embassy in Riyadh issued a security alert about more attacks in the country.
Two officials told the outlet that, should the orders be issued, it could reach all personnel and family members from the U.S. mission to Saudi Arabia.
Elsewhere, Russian President Vladimir Putin is willing to resume trilateral talks with the U.S. and Ukraine to seek an end to the war.
Foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov said on Wednesday that Putin has agreed to renewed talks “in principle” following a meeting with President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow.
The talks would focus on “building a security system for Russia and Ukraine after the conflict ends,” Ushakov claimed.
Witkoff met with Putin for about three hours and followed an encounter with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other European leaders in Norway on Tuesday. Finnish President Alexander Stubb said after the meeting that he had seen “genuine progress.”
