US Close 21 October 2026: Nasdaq +1.05% as SpaceX and Super Micro Lift AI Stocks; META.US +5% After Hours
S&P 500 close: 7,757.17 (+0.58%) VIX: 16.68 (-3.64%) Sentiment: bullish
The S&P 500 closed at 7,757.17 on 21 October 2026, up 44.60 points or 0.58%, as information technology rose 1.67% after SpaceX posted its first profit as a public company and Super Micro Computer forecast quarterly revenue and margin above estimates, per Reuters. SPCX.US gained 7.79% to $159.31 and SMCI.US 9.55% to $35.57. Communication services fell 1.11% as T.US lost 6.45% and NFLX.US 5.31%, and the 10-year Treasury yield rose about 3 bps to 5.146%.
At a glance
| Index | Close | Change |
|---|---|---|
| S&P 500 | 7,757.17 | +0.58% |
| Nasdaq Composite | 26,702.86 | +1.05% |
| Dow Jones Industrial Average | 52,856.09 | +0.69% |
| Russell 2000 | 2,781.02 | +0.27% |
| VIX | 16.68 | -3.64% |
The Nasdaq added 278.04 points and the Dow 360.21. The S&P 500 traded between 7,713.17 and 7,769.27 in hourly bars and closed 12 points below the high. The Russell 2000 gained 0.27%, a day after it led with +1.65%. The US Dollar Index was flat at 101.71, December WTI eased 0.11% to $97.71 and December gold rose 0.41% to $4,159.50.
What moved the index
The S&P 500 gained 58 bps on 21 October 2026; technology added about 58 bps on its own, and communication services and the defensive sectors took back about 21 bps.
| Driver | Move | Approx. index weight | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Information technology | +1.67% | about 35% | about +58 bps |
| Industrials and financials | +0.91%, +0.57% | about 21% combined | about +15 bps |
| Communication services | -1.11% | about 10% | about -11 bps |
| Staples, health care, real estate | -0.73%, -0.49%, -0.76% | about 16% combined | about -10 bps |
- NVDA.US +2.54% to $221.97 and AAPL.US +1.32% to $343.99, worth about 28 bps between them. SMH.US rose 1.89% and AMD.US 3.36%.
- Communication services -1.11% as GOOGL.US fell 1.62% and META.US gained 0.47% to $697.52 into its results.
- Rates: the 10-year yield rose to 5.146% from 5.117%, a week before the 28 October Fed decision.
These four drivers sum to about 52 bps of the 58 bps move; energy, utilities and materials (+0.18% to +0.29%) add about 2 bps, and the weights are approximate.
Session highlights
- SPCX.US +7.79% after SpaceX reported its first profit as a public company, per Reuters. Elon Musk said a merger of SpaceX and Tesla would be "a good idea", and TSLA.US rose 3.41% to $386.47 before its own report.
- SMCI.US +9.55% on a quarterly revenue and profit margin forecast above Wall Street estimates, per Reuters. Server peers DELL.US gained 5.27% to $485.88 and HPE.US 3.71% to $58.17.
- ZS.US +7.84% to $231.33 and OKTA.US +7.54% to $208.64 after the PHP team disclosed two critical flaws that hackers exploited before patches went live at about 13:45 GMT, per TradingKey. Government and public sites in the Netherlands and Finland went offline as a precaution. NET.US rose 5.32% and CRWD.US 5.26%.
- T.US -6.45% to $21.91 even though AT&T beat third-quarter revenue and profit estimates; Huntington Bank's Marc Dizard told Reuters the SpaceX results and a recent spectrum purchase fanned fears of a stronger wireless competitor.
- CRL.US +9.33% to $344.87, a 52-week high, after its 2026 investor day set a new growth plan, per StocksToTrade. ABT.US fell 1.89% after Abbott cut its 2026 sales growth forecast, per Reuters.
- MSTR.US +7.54% to $153.48 as bitcoin rose 2.25% to about $84,742.66 on Yahoo at 5pm ET; ASST.US, which holds 36,818 BTC, gained 13.64%.
Sector scorecard
- Best: Information technology (+1.67%)
- Worst: Communication services (-1.11%)
- Dispersion (best minus worst): 2.78 pts
- Industrials (+0.91%) and financials (+0.57%) followed technology; real estate (-0.76%), consumer staples (-0.73%) and health care (-0.49%) fell, and consumer discretionary was flat at +0.03% as AMZN.US slipped 0.10%.
Top movers
| Ticker | Move | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| ASST.US | +13.64% | Bitcoin treasury company; bitcoin rose 2.25% |
| SKYD.US | +10.85% | Unannounced, likely flow-driven. |
| NTSK.US | +10.04% | Rose with ZS.US and OKTA.US after two critical PHP flaws were exploited |
| SMCI.US | +9.55% | Quarterly revenue and margin forecast above estimates |
| SEI.US | +9.52% | Unannounced, likely flow-driven. |
| RCUS.US | -19.58% | Launched an underwritten public offering of common stock |
| LAD.US | -10.15% | Fell despite third-quarter adjusted EPS of $10.34 against $9.70 expected |
| TAL.US | -8.89% | Unannounced, likely flow-driven. |
| WING.US | -7.95% | Unannounced, likely flow-driven. |
| CRRFY.US | -6.49% | Carrefour cut its profit forecast, citing unrest in France |
After-hours earnings
Meta Platforms gained 5% in extended trading on 21 October 2026 after third-quarter revenue of $64.60 billion topped the LSEG consensus of $63.37 billion, per CNBC.
- META.US closed the regular session at $697.52 (+0.47%), then rose 5% after hours, per CNBC. The midpoint of its fourth-quarter revenue guidance of $73 billion to $76 billion was above estimates, and it narrowed 2026 capital spending to $135 billion to $145 billion, per Fortune.
- TSLA.US added less than 1% after hours, per CNBC, on adjusted EPS of $0.48 against an LSEG estimate of $0.43 and revenue of $28.05 billion against $27.88 billion. Operating income fell 56% to $718 million, per AskTraders.
- IBM.US jumped 3% after hours on adjusted EPS of $2.95 against $2.86 expected, per CNBC; it now expects 2026 free cash flow to rise by more than $1 billion. The stock gained 3.94% in the regular session.
- LRCX.US dropped more than 5% after hours, per CNBC, even though adjusted EPS of $2.20 and revenue of $8.22 billion beat LSEG estimates of $2.18 and $8.15 billion.
- ROL.US fell more than 8% after hours on EPS of $0.33 and revenue of $1.09 billion, short of the $0.34 and $1.11 billion FactSet consensus, per CNBC. LVS.US fell 2% on adjusted EPS of $0.54 against $0.69 expected.
- CSX.US gained 4% after hours on EPS of $0.57 against $0.53 expected, and SAP.US advanced 4% after a third-quarter beat, per CNBC. QS.US surged more than 8% on plans for a 100 megawatt-hour solid-state battery line for AI data centers.
Notable announcements
- Texas Instruments: third-quarter revenue of $6.06 billion and EPS of $2.62, both above the top of its July guidance, per the company's 8-K. Fourth-quarter guidance is revenue of $5.80 billion to $6.30 billion and EPS of $2.45 to $2.79. TXN.US closed +2.47% at $284.65 before the release.
- Lithia & Driveway: raised its quarterly dividend 7% alongside a 9% rise in adjusted diluted EPS, per the company release; the stock still fell 10.15% to $269.13.
- Arcus Biosciences: began an underwritten public offering with all shares sold by the company, per Business Wire, a day after presenting casdatifan kidney cancer data at its investor day.
- Chipotle: CMG.US fell 5.16% to $28.12, a 52-week low, after TD Cowen downgraded the stock to Hold from Buy, per Benzinga. Chipotle reports on 28 October.
Next session catalysts (ET)
- Thu 22 Oct, 7:45am: Union Pacific reports third-quarter results, with a call at 8:45am, per the company. MarketBeat lists consensus at EPS of $3.47 on revenue of $7.12 billion.
- Thu 22 Oct, 8:30am: weekly initial and continuing jobless claims, per the Investrade weekly calendar.
- Wed 28 Oct: the FOMC decision; the Fed's blackout period runs to 29 October.
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