Stock market today: Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq gain as tech rallies, SpaceX stock surges

The Nasdaq 100 (^NDX) gained more than 1.2% on Wednesday, outperforming the major averages, as SpaceX (SPCX) stock surged following the company’s quarterly results, driven by AI growth.

Chip stocks Nvidia (NVDA) rose more than 1.5%, while AMD (AMD) also rose 2%, sparked by exploding growth in SpaceX’s AI compute business.

The S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose 0.5% while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) climbed 1.1%. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) edged higher.

Netflix (NFLX) stock was poised to open 5% lower on Wednesday as the streaming giant’s Q4 revenue outlook came in below Wall Street estimates, signaling slower growth.

Fourth-quarter outlook for the company’s top line came in at $13.44 billion, short of the consensus analyst estimate of $13.51 billion.

Netflix also cut its 2026 ad revenue guidance from $3 billion to $2.7 billion due to a slower-than-expected rollout of certain ad product capabilities.

Wall Street has been laser-focused on engagement, which management argued was healthy given the response to this year’s price increases.

When it comes to the US, “our engagement is solid, and it will allow us to continue to grow as we have for the last several years,” Greg Peters, co-CEO of Netflix, said during the earnings call.

Read more here.

It took Berkshire Hathaway 17 months to get back to where it was the day before Warren Buffett said he’d hand over the keys. The S&P 500 gained more than 35% in that time.

Berkshire’s Class B stock (BRK-B) closed at a record Tuesday, topping its May 2, 2025, high by two cents. It and the Class A stock (BRK-A) hit intraday records this morning.

Berkshire is on pace to rise in 14 of its last 15 sessions, including a 10-day winning streak — its first since 2018, according to Yahoo Finance calculations.

The run began as investors rotated out of AI winners. Since the S&P 500’s Oct. 6 record, Berkshire is up about 7% while the index has slipped.

Greg Abel, CEO since January, has started putting Buffett’s cash to work. Berkshire bought back about $4.5 billion of its stock in the second quarter and ended 14 straight quarters of net stock selling. Buffett said Sept. 18 he’d also step down as chairman. The stock bottomed two weeks later.

Watch whether Berkshire holds $540 heading into third quarter results in early November. Holding it would turn the old ceiling into a floor. Slipping back below would make the breakout look like a bull trap — a breakout that quickly reverses.

Yahoo Finance’s Dan Howley and David Hollerith report:

Anthropic is set to publicly file its S-1 investor prospectus as soon as Friday, according to three people familiar with the artificial intelligence firm’s plans. The move would mark a crucial next step for what could be the biggest IPO in history.

The much-anticipated public debut, which is expected to surpass SpaceX’s June IPO, is widely viewed as a crucial test of investor appetite for the artificial intelligence boom, as investors have grown more concerned about the industry’s massive spending.

Anthropic confidentially submitted a draft IPO registration statement to the Securities and Exchange Commission in June. Under SEC rules, companies using the confidential process must make their registration materials available 15 calendar days before the start of their formal investor roadshow.

Anthropic did not respond to a request for comment on the timing of its S-1.

Read more here.

October has been brutal for space’s newcomers, with a typical name down about 26%. SpaceX’s blowout quarter is giving them a breather.

SpaceX (SPCX) is jumping in premarket trading after third quarter revenue and profit topped Wall Street’s estimates. My colleague Pras Subramanian has the full breakdown, and the company’s AI business now brings in nearly half its sales.

Every stock in a Yahoo Finance basket of newer space names is higher before the bell. Firefly Aerospace (FLY) and Satellogic (SATL) are among the leaders, while Rocket Lab (RKLB) and AST SpaceMobile (ASTS) trail.

The old guard isn’t joining in. Lockheed Martin (LMT) and Northrop Grumman (NOC), both up this month, are barely moving.

One morning doesn’t undo a month.

Watch whether SpaceX can hold $150 throughout the day, and whether its followers keep their gains. Above that, the next potential wall is $172, which capped the stock in July and October.

Also, up to 1.3 billion shares unlock Thursday, the biggest release yet, though past unlocks have barely dented the stock.

Yahoo Finance’s Pras Subramanian reports:

Elon Musk said on SpaceX’s (SPCX) third quarter earnings call late Tuesday that he thinks merging the company with Tesla (TSLA) would be a good idea and revealed that both companies have formed special committees to study a deal.

Answering an analyst question on the call, the SpaceX and Tesla CEO took on the 800-pound gorilla in the room — a merger of his biggest companies.

“This is definitely kind of a question where I feel like I’m tap dancing through a minefield,” Musk joked, before adding some new information.

Read more here.

Yahoo Finance’s Jared Blikre reports:

Investors bought SpaceX for the rockets. They’re getting an AI cloud.

The company’s AI segment, freshly renamed “Super Intelligence,” brought in $7.6 billion in the third quarter, SpaceX (SPCX) reported Tuesday. That’s more than Starlink and the rocket business combined, and more than half of SpaceX’s $14.6 billion in total revenue.

A year ago, AI made up about 15% of sales. In SpaceX’s first report as a public company, it was a third. One quarter later, Starlink lost its top spot.

Read more here.

Yahoo Finance’s Pras Subramanian reports:

SpaceX (SPCX) reported highly anticipated third quarter results on Tuesday after the bell Here are the top-level highlights:

SpaceX stock was up 6% after the release. SpaceX said it added $6.7 billion of “incremental SI solutions and infrastructure revenue year-over-year, driven by cloud services agreements, the acquisition of Cursor, and our growing SI models and software applications, including Grok Bot.”

Read more here.