SpaceX

Published on
23/06/2026 – 10:53 GMT+2

SpaceX shares closed at $154.63 on Monday, down around 16% on the day. That leaves them within touching distance of the $150 at which the shares first changed hands when public trading opened, the level set once underwriters finished building the order book, though still some way above the $135 price at which the IPO itself was struck.

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The slide has erased more than $600 billion (€524.2bn) in market value over three trading days, dragging the company down from a peak that had lifted it past Amazon and, fleetingly, Microsoft, in terms of market capitalisation.

Its valuation now sits just above $2 trillion (€1.74tn), below Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), making it the seventh most valuable company in the world.

The retreat unwinds a remarkable opening run.

After the open at around $150 on 12 June, shares climbed to almost $226 by 16 June, a gain of roughly two-thirds before the company had published a single set of results as a public firm.

Currently, SpaceX is trading over 30% lower than the intraday high of around $226 and only 3% higher than the opening price.

That rally always rested on a thin pool of freely traded shares and lofty expectations for its AI ambitions, leaving it exposed to a sharp reversal once sentiment turned.

Tapping debt to fund the AI push

The latest leg down on Monday coincided with SpaceX’s first move into the corporate debt market.

The company announced an inaugural offering of senior unsecured notes, with people familiar with the plans reportedly putting the target at around $20 billion (€17.4bn).

The proceeds are earmarked chiefly to repay a bridge loan taken on during its merger with Elon Musk’s AI venture xAI earlier this year, with the remainder going to general corporate purposes.

The debut bond sale follows the investment-grade credit ratings awarded last Friday by all three major agencies, Moody’s at Baa1, Fitch at BBB+ and S&P Global at BBB, which open the door to cheaper borrowing and a wider pool of institutional lenders.

In documents tied to the offering, SpaceX also disclosed a cash position of roughly $100.8 billion (€88bn) as of 19 June, much of it raised in the IPO, alongside $29.1 billion (€25.4bn) of long-term debt.

That mix of vast cash reserves and fresh borrowing so soon after a record flotation has unsettled some investors, who see the rapid fundraising as a sign of heavy spending ahead as SpaceX scales its AI and data centre plans.

Opting for debt rather than new shares does, however, spare existing shareholders further dilution, preserving their economic stake while the company funds its expansion.

Published on
19/06/2026 – 10:37 GMT+2

Elon Musk’s space and AI firm secured first-time ratings from Moody’s, Fitch and S&P Global on Thursday, a milestone that places its debt firmly in investment-grade territory and could allow it to borrow more cheaply as it funds a vast expansion.

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The endorsements arrive less than a week after the company’s record IPO, which raised around $85.7 billion (€73.8bn) in the largest initial public offering in history.

Moody’s assigned SpaceX a Baa1 long-term issuer rating with a stable outlook. In its report, the agency pointed to the firm’s “exceptional franchise strength” as the world’s leading orbital launch provider and operator of Starlink, the largest low Earth orbit satellite broadband network.

The rating is also slightly higher than Tesla’s Baa3. Reacting to the news in a reply on social media, Elon Musk wrote: “Tesla’s credit rating is ridiculously low to be honest.”

According to Moody’s, Starlink has become SpaceX’s primary cash flow generator, underpinning improving scale, wider margins and a gradual shift away from more cyclical launch revenue.

Moody’s also set out the risks. It said the rating was constrained by the heavy execution and financial demands of SpaceX’s large-scale AI buildout, marked by high capital intensity, sustained negative free cash flow and an uncertain range of returns.

The agency highlighted the company’s dependence on the next-generation Starship V3 vehicle, warning that technical setbacks or delays could pressure long-term growth.

It further pointed to elevated governance risks tied to SpaceX’s controlled structure and concentrated voting power, which it said limit independent board oversight and leave the firm heavily reliant on a single individual, Elon Musk.

However, Moody’s still projects strong revenue and earnings growth through 2028, driven chiefly by Starlink, which counted 12 million subscribers as of early June, alongside an expected turning point in the AI division.

The agency cited recent third-party compute deals with Anthropic and Google worth a combined $75 billion (€65bn) as evidence of that potential.

As for the other credit agencies, Fitch issued a BBB+ long-term issuer default rating, also with a stable outlook, citing the company’s commanding lead in commercial launch, where it has delivered more than 80% of global mass to orbit since 2023.

Meanwhile, S&P Global assigned a BBB rating with a stable outlook, weighing the strength of the launch and connectivity businesses against the risks of the nascent AI segment and the company’s substantial capital needs.

Shares slide from their peak

The ratings did little to steady the stock on Thursday.

SpaceX closed at $185, down more than 18% from the high of $225.6 it reached on Tuesday, when its valuation briefly topped $3 trillion (€2.6tn).

The shares fell as low as $172 during the session before paring losses, as investors weighed whether the company’s lofty valuation had run too far.

The retreat has reshuffled SpaceX’s standing among the world’s corporate giants. The company now ranks once again as the sixth most valuable listed firm by market capitalisation, having given back some of the ground it gained earlier in the week.

On Tuesday, it had overtaken Amazon to claim fifth place, and at its intraday peak, it briefly leapfrogged Microsoft into fourth before this week’s slide pushed it back down.

Even after surrendering some of those gains, SpaceX sits among the most valuable companies on the planet just a week into its life as a public firm, and the investment-grade verdict from all three major agencies marks a notable shift in how financial markets judge a business that spent years operating as a privately funded rocket maker.

Published on
17/06/2026 – 11:13 GMT+2

Elon Musk’s space and AI conglomerate ended its third day of public trading worth roughly $2.65 trillion (€2.28tn), having displaced Amazon in the global market-capitalisation rankings.

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The stock settled at $201.8 per share, in a debut week that has rewritten the upper reaches of the world’s equity leaderboard at remarkable speed.

The milestone caps an already extraordinary stretch for the company, which listed on the Nasdaq under the ticker SPCX only last Friday.

SpaceX priced 555.6 million Class A shares at $135 each, raising around $75 billion (€65bn) in what was the largest initial public offering in history, comfortably eclipsing the $29.4 billion (€25.3bn) that Saudi Aramco raised in 2019.

The company also increased the total capital raised to $85.7 billion (€73.8bn) after underwriters exercised the “greenshoe” option to purchase additional shares on Monday due to exceptional demand.

At Tuesday’s close, the stock was trading more than 50% above its IPO price.

During the trading session, share prices climbed as high as $225.6, briefly pushing SpaceX’s valuation above $3 trillion (€2.58tn) and, for a moment, ahead of Microsoft as the world’s fourth most valuable company.

The stock later pared those gains, closing below that threshold, but the intraday spike underscored the intensity of investor appetite for the listing.

Based on Tuesday’s closing prices, only Nvidia ($5tr), Alphabet ($4.5tr), Apple ($4.4tr) and Microsoft ($2.9tr) had larger market capitalisations than SpaceX. Eight of the world’s ten most valuable listed companies are tied to the technology and AI sector, a concentration that has defined markets throughout 2026.

The Cursor deal fuels the surge

Tuesday’s advance coincided with a significant strategic move.

Before the opening bell, SpaceX announced an all-stock agreement to acquire Anysphere, the developer behind the AI coding assistant Cursor, in a deal valuing the startup at $60 billion (€51.7bn).

According to a regulatory filing, a SpaceX subsidiary will merge into Anysphere, leaving Cursor as a wholly owned arm of the group, with completion expected in the third quarter, subject to regulatory approval.

The purchase deepens SpaceX’s push into enterprise AI, a market where rivals such as OpenAI and Anthropic have gained early commercial traction, and it follows the company’s merger with Musk’s xAI venture in February.

The acquisition stems from an option SpaceX secured in April, under which it agreed either to acquire Cursor for $60 billion (€51.7bn) later this year or pay $10 billion (€8.6bn) for a more limited partnership to access its computing technology.

However, despite all the positive news, the speed of the climb has drawn caution.

Sceptics argue that SpaceX remains overvalued, given that it has yet to turn a profit and only 3% to 4% of its total equity is publicly traded.

A fast-track route into major stock indices, which compels passive funds to buy the shares, is expected to further amplify demand for the limited supply of shares in the opening days of trading.

This article does not constitute financial advice, always do your own research and invest according to your specific circumstances.

Published on 16/06/2026 – 14:21 GMT+2•Updated
14:25

SpaceX is pushing deeper into AI with its largest acquisition yet, striking a $60 billion (€51.7bn) all-stock agreement to buy Anysphere, the developer of the AI coding assistant Cursor.

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The purchase, announced on Tuesday, is intended to strengthen SpaceX’s position in the enterprise AI market, where rivals such as OpenAI and Anthropic have found early commercial traction.

Anysphere is a San Francisco startup that uses AI to automate large parts of software development, and its Cursor tool is widely used by programmers.

According to a regulatory filing, the two sides signed a merger agreement under which a SpaceX subsidiary, X67 Inc., will merge into Anysphere, leaving Cursor as a wholly owned subsidiary.

The merger is expected to close in the third quarter of this year, subject to regulatory approval.

The deal lands barely a week after Elon Musk’s company completed a blockbuster listing, and marks an aggressive move beyond rockets and satellites into enterprise AI software.

At the time of writing, SpaceX shares were trading a few cents below $200 in premarket trading, up more than 4% from Monday’s close and roughly 50% higher than its IPO price of $135.

Tuesday’s rally could see SpaceX overtake Amazon by market capitalisation if gains hold through the session.

The acquisition follows an option SpaceX secured in April, when it agreed to either acquire Cursor for $60 billion (€51.7bn) later in the year or pay $10 billion (€8.6bn) for a narrower partnership to provide compute.

Founded in 2022, Cursor has grown quickly, reporting roughly $2.6 billion (€2.2bn) in annualised business-to-business revenue, according to company data shared with Reuters this month.

The firm had previously raised more than $3 billion (€2.5bn) from backers including Nvidia and OpenAI.

SpaceX merged with Musk’s chatbot venture xAI in February, and this new deal could hand xAI a stronger position in AI-assisted coding, an area where it has trailed competitors, while giving Cursor access to far greater computing power.

Published on
16/06/2026 – 13:52 GMT+2

Wall Street’s most famous market label may be outdated.

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The ‘Magnificent 7’ or ‘Mag 7’ defined the first phase of the AI rally, as it included Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Tesla, but a fresh grouping is now circulating among investors keen to capture its next leg.

In the wake of SpaceX’s blockbuster listing, analysts are looking to add Elon Musk’s company, as well as OpenAI and Anthropic, which are expected to IPO later this year, to a new market label.

Coined by the British financial firm Vanda Research, the ‘FAB 10’ stands for Frontier AI & Big Tech 10, and takes the original seven companies from ‘Mag 7’ together with the three new market darlings.

According to Vanda, last Friday’s SpaceX IPO offered the clearest signal yet that attention is widening beyond the ‘Magnificent 7’.

After Monday’s close above $192 per share, Elon Musk’s space and AI firm is now the sixth most valuable company in the world by market capitalisation.

What the new label captures

The term ‘Magnificent 7’ was coined in late 2023 by Michael Hartnett, who wanted a single term for the megacap stocks powering the market to records.

Their combined value now sits at roughly $22.6 trillion (€19.5tn), with Nvidia alone worth more than $5 trillion (€4.33tn) as the most valuable company in the world by market capitalisation.

The three newcomers represent a different flavour of the same AI boom.

SpaceX brings aerospace and satellite connectivity through its Starlink unit, while OpenAI and Anthropic are among the leading developers of frontier AI models.

According to Vanda, the ten companies collectively map the direction of the AI and technology sectors over the coming decade.

However, a wrinkle in the label is that two of the additions are not yet listed.

OpenAI and Anthropic remain private, though both have filed to approach public markets this year, potentially at valuations surpassing $1 trillion (€861bn) and making the ‘FAB 10’ as much a shorthand as a tradable basket.

The ‘FAB 10’ is also not the only contender.

Bank of America has floated an ‘AI Big 10’ that instead adds the chipmakers Broadcom, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Micron, reflecting the semiconductor rally.

Others have suggested smaller clusters, such as the rival ‘MANGOS’ label, which has surfaced and includes Meta, Anthropic, Nvidia, Google (Alphabet), OpenAI and SpaceX.

Strategists caution that none of the names signals the demise of the ‘Magnificent 7’, which still accounts for roughly a third of the S&P 500 index. Investors are not abandoning the originals but simply broadening the definition of who leads the AI era.

As Vanda frames it, the next decade’s winners may simply need a bigger tent.

In SpaceX’s case, appetite was exceptionally high. The underwriters, which included Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and JPMorgan, exercised the option in full, purchasing an additional 83.3 million shares directly from the company to meet the huge demand.

June 12 (Asia Today) — Hanmi Semiconductor said Friday it will invest about 50 billion won, or $32.9 million, in SpaceX as part of a strategic move tied to future cooperation in artificial intelligence chip manufacturing.

The South Korean semiconductor equipment maker said in a regulatory filing it plans to acquire shares in SpaceX on Monday. SpaceX, founded by Elon Musk, is a private aerospace company known for rocket technology and its Starlink satellite communications service.

Hanmi Semiconductor said the investment was made with an eye toward potential cooperation related to Musk’s Terafab project, an AI semiconductor manufacturing plan involving SpaceX, Tesla and xAI.

The project is aimed at building chip production capacity for Musk’s companies, including SpaceX, Tesla and xAI, as demand grows for AI semiconductors, satellite data services and global network infrastructure.

Market expectations for SpaceX have grown ahead of its expected public listing, with some estimates putting the company’s value at about 2,600 trillion won, or roughly $1.7 trillion.

Hanmi Semiconductor said it made the investment to position itself early in the expansion of AI infrastructure from semiconductors and data centers into aerospace, satellite communications and data industries.

The company has previously invested in businesses with future growth potential. Hanmi Semiconductor Chairman Kwak Dong-shin has pursued several investments connected to his relationship with Peter Thiel, the co-founder of Palantir.

Crescendo Equity Partners, a global private equity firm backed by Thiel, invested in Hanmi Semiconductor in 2013, marking the first investment of its kind in a Korean company. Hanmi Semiconductor said its latest investment in SpaceX also stems from that connection.

Kwak and Hanmi Semiconductor jointly invested in semiconductor equipment maker HPSP in 2021, generating a return of about 639% from the original investment. In 2024, Kwak personally invested 31 billion won, or about $20.4 million, in Line Next, a global Web3 company affiliated with LY Corp., acquiring an 8.5% stake.

A Hanmi Semiconductor official said the company decided to invest in SpaceX, a participant in Musk’s Terafab project, as AI industry growth expands beyond semiconductors and data centers into aerospace, satellite communications and data businesses.

The company said it plans to reinvest expected returns from the SpaceX investment into its core semiconductor equipment business to support sustainable growth and increase corporate and shareholder value.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260612010004261

June 12 (UPI) — SpaceX began trading Friday at $150 and has gone as high as $176 as SPCX in its initial public offering, the largest one in history.

Elon Musk and SpaceX President and COO Gwynne Shotwell rang the opening bell Friday. Musk was in Texas and Shotwell was at the Nasdaq in New York City.

After trading opened, the stock topped $160, sending the company to more than a $2 trillion market cap. By early afternoon, the stock was at $176.52.

“I love the incredible people of SpaceX beyond words,” Musk wrote Friday afternoon on X.

The company had traded more than 360 million shares as of 2 p.m. EDT Friday. It has more than 172 million shares on the Nasdaq alone, CNBC reported. Polymarket bettors believe, at 70%, that SpaceX will close at more than $2 trillion Friday. Five other U.S. companies have reached the $2 trillion market cap: Nvidia, Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft and Amazon.

Already a trillionaire, Musk is about to be CEO of two of the Top 10 most valuable publicly traded companies at the same time.

Musk said before the IPO that SpaceX had been cash-flow positive since around 2015, CNBC reported. He said he chose to take the company public now to raise capital for “a significant growth phase.” Some plans for that growth include putting more than 100,000 satellites in orbit for communications and building artificial intelligence data centers in space.

“Having a private company was important to us early on because we weren’t really focused on quarterly financials, we were so focused on the long-term outlook for the company,” Shotwell told CNBC in an interview.

Shotwell said interest from investors also helped drive the decision.

“We’ve been feeling, over the last few years, a lot of pressure from everyday Americans and our friends that wanted to buy stock, and there was just no way for these folks to get in,” Shotwell said.

According to its prospectus, SpaceX has had a total loss of $41.3 billion since it was founded in 2002. Originally founded as a maker of reusable rockets, the only profitable part of the business has been the Starlink satellite Internet service.

In February, SpaceX acquired Musk’s startup xAI, which has been embattled this year for its ability to undress people in AI-generated images. Several countries and people have sued the company to force it to not allow the bot to do so against the victims’ will.

Citadel Securities, which helps execute trade orders, processed more retail activity for SpaceX than any other IPO auction on record, CNN reported the company said. Retail investors are regular people trading stocks instead of professionals.

Published on
12/06/2026 – 17:57 GMT+2

The moment that Wall Street had anticipated all year arrived on Friday as SpaceX, the AI and aerospace company controlled by Elon Musk, began trading publicly on the Nasdaq in the largest initial public offering (IPO) in the history of financial markets.

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In a speech before the New York session opened for trading, Musk stated that SpaceX’s goal is to “take the fiction out of science fiction.”

SPCX opened at $150, over 10% above its $135 IPO price, and it was already at more than $160 after the first few minutes of live trading.

The company confirmed on Thursday that it had priced 555.6 million Class A shares at $135 each, valuing the firm at roughly $1.78 trillion (€1.54trn) and targeting a raise of $75 billion (€64.5bn) that instantly eclipsed Saudi Aramco’s $29.4 billion (€25.4bn) listing, which had stood as the global record for almost seven years.

Only around 3% to 4% of SpaceX shares are currently available for public trading.

The company earmarked as much as 30% of its offering for retail investors, including 10% dedicated to European buyers, but the final amount was set at 20%. As for options contracts on SPCX, they are scheduled to begin trading next week.

The IPO has also brought Elon Musk closer to becoming the world’s first trillionaire.

Forbes valued his pre-IPO SpaceX stake, estimated at around 42% of the company, at about $500bn (€435bn). At the IPO valuation, those holdings are worth roughly $690bn (€600bn), adding nearly $190bn (€165bn) to his fortune and pushing his net worth closer to the $1tn (€870bn) milestone.

Along with Musk, thousands of SpaceX employees are benefitting from the IPO and becoming millionaires.

The listing will give millions of savers indirect exposure to SpaceX as the company is expected to qualify for major stock market indexes shortly after its debut, meaning its shares could be automatically purchased by index-tracking funds.

SpaceX is estimated to be fast-tracked into the Nasdaq-100 in less than a month, as opposed to a typical wait of as much as a year.

Nasdaq’s new fast-entry rule, introduced in May, now sees it evaluating newly listed stocks for potential entry ‌by ranking ⁠their market capitalisation on the seventh trading day and assessing whether they would rank within the top 40 index members.

SpaceX is already in the top 10.

Among other changes announced, the rule that requires companies to float a minimum of 10% of their shares was also scrapped.

Analysts estimate that funds tracking the Nasdaq-100 will be required to purchase at least $7bn (€6bn) worth of SpaceX shares around the inclusion date, creating a wave of mechanical demand.

SpaceX has also already become eligible for inclusion in both the Russell US Equity Indexes and the FTSE Global Equity Index Series under the newly announced fast-entry rules from the index provider FTSE Russell.

The S&P 500, however, will not adopt a similar fast-track approach.

S&P Dow Jones Indices confirmed in early June that it would maintain its 12-month seasoning requirement and GAAP profitability test, meaning SpaceX will not join the index before mid-2027.

This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.

This article does not constitute financial advice, always do your own research and invest according to your specific circumstances.

SpaceX lands on public markets as the sixth largest US company by market value.

SpaceX has debuted on US markets with a market valuation of more than $2 trillion, minting CEO Elon Musk as the world’s first trillionaire.

Shares are set to open on Friday at $150 per share, marking a 6.6 percent increase from the initial public offering (IPO) price, valuing the company at $1.96 trillion putting the aerospace company on track to become the sixth-largest company in the United States.

The company sold $75bn in shares, immediately valuing it at $1.77 trillion. The IPO was oversubscribed four times higher than was otherwise expected, according to the Reuters news agency.

Of the institutional investors allocated, according to Bloomberg News, as much as 70 percent went to what are called long-only investments — a strategy in which holders buy assets based on the expectation that their value will grow over time — and sovereign wealth funds, including those from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait as well.

SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell and Chief Financial Officer Bret Johnsen rang the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York City opening bell at 9:30am local time as US markets opened.

On Thursday, protesters gathered outside the MarketSite to protest the IPO amid continued allegations that Grok, part of xAI, a subsidiary of SpaceX, allowed users to create non-consensual deepfake sexualised images before the IPO debut.

Shares of SpaceX did not trade until the middle of the trading day as the exchange collected buy and sell orders and underwriters delayed trading until supply and demand were balanced.

“We would expect SpaceX to see an immediate pop in trading due to the hype around the deal, north of 20 percent perhaps,” said Samuel Kerr, global head of equity capital markets at Mergermarket. “Anything lower would actually make me nervous.”

Exchanges and trading firms are eager to avoid the technical mishaps that marred Meta’s 2012 debut. With SpaceX widely viewed as a dress rehearsal for a new generation of mega-listings, market participants will also be watching for signals on investor appetite in advance of forthcoming IPOs for AI heavyweights Anthropic and OpenAI.

The landmark listing cemented Musk’s status as the first trillionaire ever and propelled SpaceX into the ranks of the world’s most valuable companies — even though the firm posted a loss of nearly $5bn last year and generated only a fraction of the revenue brought in by similarly valued tech giants.

The surge comes amid growth driven by its Starlink subsidiary, which drives as much as 80 percent of its revenue.

On Friday, SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 rocket with 29 satellites into space from Cape Canaveral in Florida.

Seoul stocks rose by more than 4 percent Friday, as investors snapped up tech heavyweights amid hopes the war between the United States and Iran could end soon.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) closed up 359.67 points, or 4.63 percent, at 8,123.62 after rising as high as 8,434.40.

After opening sharply higher on renewed hopes that the war between the U.S. and Iran is near its end, the index trimmed earlier gains on profit taking ahead of the closing bell.

Trade volume was heavy at 490.3 million shares worth 51.1 trillion won (US$33.6 billion). Winners outnumbered losers 753 to 144.

On Thursday (U.S. time), U.S. President Donald Trump said he has reached a “great settlement” that would resolve the monthslong conflict with Iran and the deal would be signed as early as over the weekend, possibly in Europe.

Media outlet Axios also reported that four U.S. Air Force C-17 planes departed for Europe on Thursday, moving equipment for possible travel by Vice President J.D. Vance, raising the possibility a signing ceremony could take place in Geneva, Switzerland.

“Market sentiment improved as foreign investors shifted to net buying after a 25-session selling streak, on anticipations for peace negotiations,” said Lee Kyoung-min, an analyst from Daishin Securities.

But the rise was limited, amid reports that global banks are curbing hedge funds’ leveraged bets on the country’s two semiconductor heavyweights: Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, Lee added.

Foreigners and institutional investors net purchased a combined 4.4 trillion won. Retail investors net sold 4.3 trillion won.

In Seoul, shares closed higher across the board.

Market top-cap Samsung Electronics rose 7.86 percent, to 322,500 won, while its chipmaking rival SK hynix moved up 2.33 percent to 2,150,000 won.

Semiconductor equipment maker Hanmi Semiconductor vaulted 24.05 percent to 361,000 won, after the company said in a regulatory filling it is seeking to invest in SpaceX, Elon Musk’s space company set to make its Nasdaq debut on Friday (local time).

Shipmakers also gathered ground as investors went bargain hunting. Hanwha Ocean added 7.85 percent to 112,700 won and HD Hyundai Heavy Industries increased 0.62 percent to 650,000 won.

Portal operator Naver jumped 10.27 percent, to 247,000 won, financial firm KB Financial climbed 6.4 percent to 161,200 won, and top car maker Hyundai Motor added 1.68 percent to 607,000 won.

The Korean won was quoted at 1,519.8 won against the U.S. dollar as of 3:30 p.m., up 9.1 won from the previous session’s close.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed higher. The yield on three-year Treasurys fell 9.6 basis points to 3.808 percent, and the return on the benchmark five-year government bonds declined 10.9 basis points to 3.971 percent.

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SpaceX is set for the largest stock market debut ever.

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Elon Musk’s rocket company begins trading on the Nasdaq on Friday under the ticker SPCX. The company priced its shares at $135 each, raising $75 billion (€64.5bn) and valuing the business at $1.75 trillion (€1.5trn) in the biggest stock market flotation on record.

The deal would comfortably eclipse Saudi Aramco’s previous record of $29.4bn, set in 2019 and later increased through an overallotment option.

SpaceX made an unusually strong push to attract retail investors, including those in Europe. According to Bloomberg, individual investors placed roughly $100bn (€86.6bn) in orders through trading platforms including Robinhood, Fidelity and SoFi during the IPO process.

That demand alone exceeded the company’s $75bn (€64.5bn) fundraising target, underscoring the level of interest from smaller investors ahead of the stock market debut.

Yet beneath the hype, several warning lights are flashing. Here are five risks investors should weigh before the SpaceX IPO goes live.

1. Is SpaceX worth $1.75tn?

At a valuation of $1.75tn (€1.5trn), investors would be valuing SpaceX at roughly 94 times its annual revenue, which was $18.7bn (€16.1bn) in 2025. By comparison, Nvidia — one of the market’s most highly valued technology companies — trades at less than a quarter of that level.

The investment research firm Morningstar, which values the company at $780bn (€675bn), called it “significantly overvalued” while Goldman Sachs data suggests sustaining the share price would require revenues above $100bn (€86.6bn) by 2030, implying a compound annual growth of more than 40%.

History offers a note of caution. Research by University of Florida professor Jay Ritter, often referred to as “Mr IPO”, found that while IPOs between 2012 and 2021 rose an average of 23.6% on their first day of trading, they returned just 10.6% over the following three years.

2. Fast-tracked into indexes and supported by a small float

SpaceX’s expected inclusion in major stock indexes has become a point of controversy. Investment officials from four large US states have urged Nasdaq and FTSE Russell to explain recent rule changes that could accelerate the company’s entry into widely tracked benchmarks.

Critics argue the move could expose passive investors to a highly valued stock sooner than expected, while the index providers say the changes reflect broader market developments.

The debate matters because relatively few SpaceX shares will initially be available for trading. Although SpaceX is valued at $1.75tr (€1.5trn), only around 3% to 4% of its shares will initially be available for public trading.

That means the company’s market value will be determined by trading in a relatively small portion of its equity. Reports suggest more than 75% of the $75bn (€64.5bn) offering has already been allocated to existing investors and insiders, leaving fewer shares available on the open market.

According to Morningstar, the limited float and strong demand for artificial intelligence-related stocks could help support the share price in the early stages of trading, even if the company is valued above what the research firm considers fair value. The firm argues that a clearer picture of investor demand may emerge once lock-up restrictions expire and more shares become available for trading.

Some analysts, however, believe the limited float could continue to support the stock. Estimates suggest between $22 billion (€19bn) and $27 billion (€23.4bn) of passive investment could flow into SpaceX once it joins the Nasdaq 100, creating additional demand from index-tracking funds.

3. Losses, not profits

SpaceX’s financial results may also give investors pause.

The prospectus shows that the company is growing rapidly but still losing money.

The company owns the Starlink satellite internet service, which generates most of its revenue and is its only profitable business. It also owns the artificial intelligence company xAI, which merged with SpaceX in February.

According to the filing, SpaceX carried an accumulated deficit of $41.3bn (€35.76bn) as of 31 March and reported a net loss of $4.27bn (€3.7bn) in the first quarter of 2026.

This compares with $528mn (€457mn) in the same period a year earlier.

Much of the recent loss stems from xAI. According to SpaceX’s IPO filing, the AI business recorded an operating loss of about $6.4 billion (€5.5bn) in 2025. The filing also showed xAI spent heavily in the opening months of 2026 as it expanded its AI infrastructure.

Morningstar argues the AI unit “poses a material threat of value destruction”, noting that Grok has yet to win meaningful market share against rival chatbots.

Supporters counter that the losses are a choice, not a structural flaw.

Revenue climbed 33% to $18.7bn (€16.2bn) in 2025, up from $14.1 billion (€12.2bn) a year earlier. The underlying launch and satellite business was profitable as recently as 2024. The deficits largely reflect heavy investment in AI infrastructure, spending that supporters say is already beginning to be offset by new compute contracts.

4. The AI growth gamble

Supporters argue investors are paying for future growth rather than current profits.

Starlink remains the company’s main source of revenue, while its artificial intelligence business is expected to play a larger role in the years ahead.

Bulls also point to SpaceX’s dominant position in rocket launches and satellite communications, arguing the company is uniquely placed to benefit from growing demand for connectivity, computing power and AI infrastructure.

SpaceX conducts more rocket launches annually than the rest of the world combined and counts over nine million Starlink subscribers, but its newest growth driver is the AI data-centre business acquired through the xAI merger.

Last Friday, Google agreed to pay SpaceX $920 million (€796.6mn) per month for compute capacity at xAI data centres, in a 32-month deal running from October 2026 through June 2029, and covering access to roughly 110,000 Nvidia GPUs.

That followed a May agreement under which Anthropic pays $1.25 billion (€1.08bn) a month to rent the entire output of the Colossus 1 data centre until May 2029, putting combined annualised compute revenue at around $26 billion (€22.5bn).

Bulls argue this contracted income, won in under four months, shows how quickly the company can monetise its infrastructure. Sceptics note that both contracts carry 90-day termination clauses after December 2026, and that Google itself has framed the arrangement as “bridge capacity” rather than a permanent commitment.

5. The Elon Musk-sized risk

SpaceX’s success is closely tied to Elon Musk, whose profile and track record have helped attract investors, customers and business partners. That creates what investors call “key-person risk” — concerns about how the company would fare if he were no longer leading it.

The company’s governance structure reinforces that dependence. Musk’s super-voting Class B shares give him around 85% of voting power, leaving outside shareholders with little influence over major corporate decisions. In practice, that means no one but Musk himself can determine whether he remains chief executive.

Critics also point to SpaceX’s incorporation in Texas, where only investors holding at least 3% of shares can bring derivative lawsuits. The Danish academic pension fund AkademikerPension has blacklisted the stock, describing the governance structure as “catastrophic”.

Supporters argue that dual-class share structures are common among US technology firms, including Meta and Alphabet. They say concentrated voting control allows founders to pursue long-term goals without pressure from short-term investors.

Musk’s prominence also brings political risk. US Senator Elizabeth Warren has urged the Securities and Exchange Commission to scrutinise the listing, warning that future index inclusion could expose millions of passive investors to the stock without them actively choosing it.

Others note that the SEC completed its review faster than expected, allowing the IPO process to move ahead without delay and suggesting regulators see no immediate obstacle to the listing.

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Investors are bracing for an ECB rate hike on Thursday. Markets expect the European Central Bank to raise rates by 25 basis points, which could weigh on growth and corporate earnings. Investors are also awaiting guidance on whether further hikes will follow.

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ING said in an analysis on Thursday morning that: “We expect the ECB to hike by 25 basis points from 2.0% to 2.25%, supported by a hawkish tone, but the bar has risen to surprise markets. Despite oil prices testing new lows earlier this week, the EUR curve is increasingly set on three rate hikes.”

Stock markets across Europe opened in positive territory despite the drop in Asian shares following another sell-off in AI-related stocks on Wall Street on Wednesday.

The Euro Stoxx 50 opened 1.2% higher but the broader pan-European Stoxx 600 rose was flat in early trading.

Germany’s Dax and France’s CAC 40 were both up by 1%, while the UK’s FTSE 100 led with a 1.2% gain. Meanwhile, Italy’s FTSE MIB rose by 0.7%.

In other dealings, Asian shares mostly fell on Thursday after another sell-off in artificial intelligence stocks weighed on Wall Street, while oil prices rose.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 lost 0.5%, South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.2%, and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.2%. Taiwan’s Taiex declined 0.4%.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index edged 0.2% higher, while Shanghai’s Composite index dropped 0.2%.

On Wall Street, on Wednesday, the S&P 500 fell 1.6%, marking its first consecutive decline in three weeks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.9%, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 2%.

Wall Street has been unsettled since last week, when AI stocks reversed course after hitting record highs. Investors are weighing whether the recent pullback has eased concerns over excessive optimism or signals the beginning of a more prolonged downturn.

Super Micro Computer, which sells AI servers, plunged 28% after announcing late on Tuesday plans to raise $7 billion through sales of common stock and convertible preferred shares. Companies often seek to raise capital when share prices are elevated, though such moves can dilute existing shareholders’ stakes.

Micron Technology swung between gains and losses before ending down 4.7%. The stock has experienced sharp volatility in recent sessions, having fallen 7.7% last Thursday, dropped a further 13.3% on Friday and then rallied 9.9% on Monday. Despite the swings, its shares remain up 212.5% so far this year.

Nvidia, the chipmaker that has grown into a nearly $4.9 trillion company on the back of the AI boom, was the biggest drag on the S&P 500 after falling 3.7%. Broadcom, another major AI beneficiary, lost 5.1%.

Some pressure on AI-related shares may also be linked to investors raising cash ahead of several high-profile stock market debuts in the United States. SpaceX’s initial public offering could take place later this week.

Weakening stocks for companies with big fuel bills also pulled the market lower. United Airlines sank 6.2%, and cruise operator Carnival fell 6.3% after oil prices rose due to the latest fighting in the war with Iran.

Oil prices and US inflation

Brent crude rose 1.8% to $93.10 a barrel on Wednesday after President Donald Trump warned that Iran would “pay the price” for stalled negotiations between the two sides over the conflict. The war has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz to oil tankers, disrupting crude shipments from the Persian Gulf to customers worldwide.

Higher oil prices have added to inflationary pressures. A report released on Wednesday showed US consumer prices rose in May at the fastest annual pace in three years.

Traders are increasingly betting that the Federal Reserve will need to raise its benchmark interest rate at least once this year in response to persistent inflation and a resilient labour market.

Higher yields can slow economic growth and weigh on a range of investments, including stocks and cryptocurrencies. They tend to hit the most highly valued assets hardest, and some critics argue that enthusiasm around AI has inflated a market bubble.

In early European trading, Brent crude was up by 0.5% at $93.60 a barrel, while US benchmark crude gained 0.7% to $90.70.

The US dollar traded at 160.58 Japanese yen in the morning. The euro rose slightly to $1.1542, and the UK pound cost $1.3377.

The gold prices dipped by 0.6% to $4,109.60 an ounce.

SpaceX’s long-anticipated IPO is hours away from reshaping the fortunes of thousands of employees.

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The listing, set for this Friday, is expected to mint millionaires not only among senior engineers and executives, but also among blue-collar workers, including cooks and welders, who received equity as part of their compensation packages.

The windfall is heavily concentrated around Brownsville, Texas, one of the poorest cities in the US, where SpaceX employs more than 3,000 people at its Starbase facility.

What makes this IPO unusual, even by Silicon Valley standards, is how far down the organisational chart the equity grants appear to have reached.

Some estimates cited by media reports put the total number of newly minted millionaires across the entire company at around 4,000. However, the figures could not be independently verified.

Michael Limas, a financial planner based in Brownsville, told Bloomberg that several of the company’s non-technical workers received stock options as part of their pay.

“SpaceX has been very friendly with options at various levels, from top to bottom. It’s something that’s unique to this area,” Limas stated.

One example cited by the investment research platform Moby illustrates the scale rather starkly. A welder’s initial equity grant of $10,000 (€8,650) is now reportedly valued at close to $880,000 (€762,000) ahead of the listing.

These individual figures reflect a broader picture of generous equity compensation that has been reported consistently across multiple outlets.

The IPO itself features a staggered lockup structure rather than the standard 180-day cliff that most companies employ.

According to the prospectus, it includes multiple early release windows, among them a performance-linked mechanism that would activate if the stock trades 30% above its IPO price on five out of ten consecutive trading days. That would allow some employees to access their new wealth within weeks of the debut.

Brownsville braces for the ripple effects

SpaceX’s impact on the region has already been striking, and the financial gains generated by the IPO are likely to amplify it.

Brownsville has long ranked among the most economically deprived cities in the US, with a median family income roughly a third below the national average, according to government data.

SpaceX arrived about a decade ago, establishing its Starbase launch facility on the Gulf of Mexico shore around 40 kilometres from the city centre.

The transformation since then has reportedly been marked by an influx of professionals from California and elsewhere. Rising housing costs have followed, as they often do when wealth becomes concentrated in a particular area.

According to several realtors and economists, the median housing prices in the broader Brownsville-Harlingen metro area have risen roughly 25% since 2020, from around $185,000 (€160,000) to $233,000 (€201,000).

Long-time residents, many of them on modest incomes, are feeling the pressure.

For many employees, the transition from holding shares they could not easily sell to having access to cash brings its own complications.

According to Bloomberg, wealth managers in the region describe a climate of considerable anxiety among staff, given the sense that this may be their single opportunity to build generational wealth and that getting the timing and tax planning wrong could be costly.

More than 100 SpaceX employees in the region reportedly pooled together to negotiate wealth-management terms collectively with the advisory firm Choreo, a move that helped them secure lower management fees by bringing between $1 billion (€865mn) and $5 billion (€4.33bn) in potential assets to the table.

Brownsville’s mayor, John Cowen, a sixth-generation resident of the area, has sought to frame the transformation in positive terms, arguing to US media that it is great for the city to be known as a place for investment.

Beyond SpaceX itself, other industrial projects have followed in the company’s wake, including building a liquefied natural gas export terminal near the Port of Brownsville.

Back in March, US President Donald Trump also announced the construction of a $300 billion (€260bn) oil refinery at the port, which could reportedly bring 500 full-time jobs.

Whether the IPO ultimately delivers on its promise, and how equitably its benefits filter through a city that has known far more hardship than prosperity, remains to be seen.

June 8 (UPI) — Artificial intelligence company OpenAI confidentially filed for an initial public offering Monday, becoming the third in a well-known trio of U.S. AI companies to do so in the past few weeks.

Rival AI company Anthropic filed for an IPO on June 1, and SpaceX (which merged with xAI, also owned by Elon Musk) filed in late May. SpaceX’s debut is set for Friday. All three are expected to be very lucrative for early investors, as they have valuations around $1 trillion, Axios reported.

OpenAI said in a post that there has been no decision on the IPO’s timing yet.

“It may be a while because there are things we want to do that are likely easier as a private company,” the post said.

The company has had both successes and trials in recent months, CNN reported. Musk lost a lawsuit against it in mid-May because of the statute of limitations, and the company has expanded ChatGPT options and other AI tools and programs.

However, the company and founder/CEO Sam Altman are also facing lawsuits because of ChatGPT’s role in recent shootings and other issues. Florida announced last week that it is suing the company and Altman, claiming the company chose “profits over public safety” in creating a dangerous product in the form of ChatGPT. The state also has an ongoing criminal investigation into the company.

Individuals including the family members of those killed or injured in a recent school shooting have also sued, saying that the company should have warned authorities about the shooter’s interactions with ChatGPT.

June 5 (UPI) — Artificial intelligence company Anthropic issued a warning about systems that can improve themselves and said that humans need a way to intervene when necessary.

AI systems will soon be able to better themselves — known as “full-recursive self-improvement” — and that has a lot of benefits, like for health care and science. But just like science fiction movies warn, it could cause serious risks to people, said Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark and leader of the Anthropic Institute Marina Favaro in a recent blog post.

“Full recursive self-improvement also might increase the risks of humans losing control over AI systems,” the blog said. “If systems are capable of fully building their own successors, the ways we secure them, monitor them, and shape their behavior all grow much more important.”

Clark called for the industry to give itself a “brake pedal” on CNN Thursday.

“When I look down at the car we’re driving, all I have is a gas pedal. I don’t have a brake pedal, and surely at some point in the future we might want that option,” he said. The inability to validate, verify and trust AI’s behavior is risky, he added.

Clark told CNN that countries have made similar changes in the past.

“We’ve done this before. In the height of the Cold War, under highly tense situations between rivalrous countries, they found ways to stabilize aspects of the nuclear arms race,” he said “All of this has been done before in other domains, and it may need to be something we do in the domain of AI.”

But critics say this talk of curbing AI is nothing new, even from Anthropic, which battled the Pentagon when it wanted full access to use its AI product.

In July 2025, Anthropic signed a $200 million contract with the U.S. Department of Defense. But CEO Dario Amodei said that Anthropic’s AI model Claude could not be used for mass surveillance in the United States or for autonomous weapons without human approval.

On Feb. 27, the Pentagon gave Anthropic a 5 p.m. deadline to comply with its demands that the government be able to use the service as it sees fit. Before the deadline, President Donald Trump announced that no government workers would be allowed to use Anthropic.

Then, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth labeled the company a supply-chain risk, which blocked it from any government contracts, but a judge struck it down in March.

“Anthropic might give the impression of being warm and fuzzy, but their definition of AI safety is narrow,” Steven Murdoch, a professor at University College London, told The Guardian. “Supporting U.S. authorities in the development of offensive capabilities has never been something they have spoken against.”

Murdoch said Anthropic’s blog left out evidence that AI is close to self-improvement.

“It is true that there’s some evidence that AI capabilities have increased and continue to increase with no limits becoming immediately clear,” he said. But, “I don’t think anything has fundamentally changed today that has caused Anthropic to publish this article.”

Murdoch pointed out that Athropic’s call for a pause on AI was similar to other proposals it has made in the past.

“It’s a reminder of what they are concerned about and have been concerned about for many years. I’m sure the attention is welcome, but again this isn’t a new thing,” Murdoch said. “Anthropic have been trying to get the attention of policymakers since they were founded.”

June 5 (UPI) — NASA briefly moved five of the seven crew members aboard the International Space Station to the docked SpaceX Crew Dragon “Freedom” while Russian cosmonauts planned to repair leaks in a transfer tunnel in the Russian module.

The Russian crew members decided to only perform measurements Friday, so Mission Control told the crew members it was OK to exit the safe haven configuration.

“Roscosmos has paused Friday’s structural repair efforts … as more measurements and data is assessed. Given this development, NASA has instructed the crew members inside the Dragon spacecraft to end the safe haven procedures and return to planned operations aboard the International Space Station. We look forward to working with Roscosmos on a collaborative approach to address the leaks,” NASA Spokesperson Bethany Stevens posted on X.

The cracks have created a small air leak on and off for about six years and is a safety risk.

“The Zvezda service module transfer tunnel, known as PrK, has suffered from cracks and leaks for some time, and has been mitigated by Roscosmos as much as possible to date. The cracks have always been a concern that NASA watches very closely. NASA and Roscosmos have been working to determine the root cause of the cracks, and Roscosmos manages the issue through operational mitigation measures and periodic partial-repair efforts,” Steven wrote in another post.

The NASA Crew-12 members on the ISS include: Jessica Meir, Jack Hathaway, Sophie Adenot and Andrew Fedyaev. Astronaut Chris Williams went to the Dragon spacecraft, Stevens said.

Roscosmos noticed a slow pressure drop in the tunnel last month after a Russian cargo ship arrived, CBS News reported. NASA and Roscosmos have been working on “operational mitigation measures and periodic partial-repair efforts.”

Elon Musk’s rocket company SpaceX is targeting a valuation of nearly $1.77 trillion in its blockbuster initial public offering (IPO), paving the way for the largest stock market debut in history.

In a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday, SpaceX said that it plans to sell 555.6 million shares at $135 apiece, raising approximately $75bn.

The eye-popping valuation would make SpaceX the world’s seventh-largest company by market capitalisation, ahead of Musk’s electric vehicle maker Tesla and social media giant Meta, and just behind Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC.

It would also eclipse energy giant Saudi Aramco’s 2019 debut, which raised $26bn at a valuation of $1.7 trillion.

Musk, who holds a roughly 42 percent stake in SpaceX, is poised to become the world’s first trillionaire upon the company’s debut on the New York-based Nasdaq stock exchange on June 12.

Despite the public listing, Musk will retain effective control of SpaceX with more than 82 percent of voting rights, the result of a dual-class stock structure that grants certain shares 10 votes instead of one.

The Texas-based firm’s decision to set a specific share price ahead of its IPO marks a break from usual practice.

Companies preparing for a public listing usually announce a preliminary price range that can be adjusted based on investor interest.

“The genuine surprise is that SpaceX fixed a price before the investor roadshow began,” Fabien Yip, a market analyst at online trading and investment company IG Group, told Al Jazeera.

“To me, this reflects Musk’s control over the deal terms and his confidence that the book will fill.”

Founded by Musk in 2002, SpaceX is best known for designing and launching rockets, spacecraft and reusable launch vehicles on behalf of NASA and private companies.

The company also provides internet services and artificial intelligence models through its Starlink and xAI divisions.

Musk has outlined lofty ambitions for SpaceX, including to establish a “self-sustaining” city on Mars, “make life multiplanetary,” and “extend the light of consciousness to the stars”.

SpaceX’s listing will be a test of investors’ confidence in Musk’s vision, which has yet to translate into profits at the company.

SpaceX reported a net loss of $4.9bn on revenue of 18.7bn in 2025, followed by a $4.3bn loss in the first quarter of this year.

Jay R Ritter, an emeritus professor at the University of Florida who specialises in IPOs, said the SpaceX IPO differs from Saudi Aramco’s blockbuster listing as the state-owned oil company had a track record of generating large revenues and profits.

“SpaceX, in contrast, has trailing annual revenue of less than $20bn, and is not profitable,” Ritter told Al Jazeera.

“So, one company’s valuation was – and is – based on its demonstrated profitability, while the other company’s valuation is based on potential.”

“With SpaceX, there is a risk that cash flows will be used to send hundreds of thousands of people to Mars, at a loss,” Ritter added.

Despite SpaceX’s lack of profitability, market sentiment is strong, said IG’s Yip, noting that buyers of investment products linked to the listing are pricing the company’s end-of-first-day market capitalisation at $2.2 trillion.

“The Tesla parallel is perhaps worth drawing: It debuted in 2010 as a loss-making company and largely tracked the S&P 500 for years, only breaking away decisively once it turned profitable for the first time in Q1 2013,” Yip said, referring to the benchmark stock index on Wall Street.

“SpaceX investors are making a similar bet on future growth, with the added complexity that SpaceX’s addressable market – rockets, satellite internet, AI – is considerably broader than Tesla’s was at listing.”