Markets

Markets Today: Tech earnings carry Wall Street — SpaceX soars on first profit (October 21, 2026)

By ToolPilot Editors · Updated October 21, 2026

Stocks rose Wednesday as tech earnings delivered — SpaceX soared on its first profit, Super Micro surged on blowout guidance — while Bitcoin climbed to ~$84,500.

Wednesday was earnings day, and Wall Street liked what it heard from tech. The Nasdaq jumped 1.1% to 26,702.86, the Dow added 360 points (0.7%) to 52,856.09, and the S&P 500 rose 0.6% to 7,757.17 — its third straight day of gains. Bitcoin climbed with the risk rally, trading around $84,500, up about 1.9% in 24 hours. Stocks as of the 4 p.m. ET close; crypto as of about 4:45 p.m. MDT, October 21, 2026. This is not financial advice.

Crypto snapshot

Bitcoin held above the $80,000 line it has defended for roughly a month, rising nearly 2% on the day to about $84,500 with a market cap near $1.7 trillion, per Coinbase. Ether rose about 1.8% to near $2,490. Solana's long-awaited Alpenglow upgrade went live Wednesday, making the network faster — The Motley Fool's crypto desk flagged it as a milestone for blockchains pushing into stablecoins and real-world asset tokenization. Zcash was the standout large-cap mover, up nearly 12%, while XRP gained almost 5%.

*Approximate, implied by Bitcoin's roughly 62% market dominance and ~$1.7T capitalization, per Coinbase data.

Stock market snapshot

Technology did all the heavy lifting: information technology gained 1.7% while the S&P 500 as a whole rose 0.6%, meaning the index would have been roughly flat without tech, according to Barron's live coverage. Small caps joined in, with the Russell 2000 up 0.3%.

Today's winners and losers

Winners

• SpaceX (SPCX) +7.8% — Reported its first-ever quarterly profit on better-than-expected revenue, and Elon Musk confirmed SpaceX and Tesla have formed committees to explore a possible merger. Investopedia noted it led the Nasdaq 100 on the day.
• Super Micro Computer (SMCI) +9.6% — The AI server maker blew past estimates, guiding fiscal first-quarter revenue to $18.5–19.5 billion versus the roughly $15 billion consensus, and raised its gross-margin outlook. Barron's called it the session's standout in the AI hardware trade.
• Tesla (TSLA) +3.4% — Rose ahead of its after-the-close results; the company then beat Q3 earnings estimates while revenue came in just shy, with capital spending falling and positive free cash flow. Investor's Business Daily reported Meta also beat after the close (excluding a litigation charge), raised the low end of its 2026 capex target, and announced a two-for-one stock split.
• Nvidia (NVDA) +2.5% — CEO Jensen Huang unveiled Vera Rubin DSX Pods, pitched as data centers deployable in days rather than months.
• United Airlines (UAL) +4% — Fell early after a weak Q4 outlook, then took off as oil eased; Q3 EPS of $2.54 missed by 3 cents.

Losers

• AT&T (T) −6.5% — Beat Q3 estimates but paced S&P 500 decliners, as investors fretted that SpaceX's push into direct-to-cell satellite service could bring new wireless competition.
• Netflix (NFLX) −5.3% — Beat on the quarter but guided 2026 revenue to $51.1 billion, below the $51.2 billion consensus, after its slowest sales growth in three years.
• Abbott (ABT) −2% and Philip Morris (PM) −1.5% — The tobacco maker blamed Ukraine and Middle East tensions for disrupting business and clouding its outlook.

What's driving the moves

• Earnings, earnings, earnings. Wednesday was the heaviest Q3 reporting day yet, with SpaceX's first profit, Super Micro's blowout guide, and mixed reads from Netflix and AT&T splitting winners and losers — and Tesla and Meta results landing after the bell.
• The AI trade revived. Chips and software bounced after Tuesday's slip: the PHLX Semiconductor Index rose 2.1% and Roundhill's Memory ETF gained 3%. Even non-tech AI plays like Caterpillar and Bloom Energy caught a bid, per Barron's.
• Oil whipsawed on diplomacy headlines. WTI eased 0.4% to about $97.50 and Brent rose to ~$109.40 as reports on U.S.–Iran talks swung both ways; Iran is reportedly dragging out negotiations with Washington ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections, per Reuters.
• Yields stayed sky-high. The 10-year Treasury rose 3 basis points to 5.145% — up three of the last four sessions and just below its 52-week high of 5.31% hit Oct. 5, per Morningstar's Data Talk. Traders are pricing an 85.1% chance the Fed holds rates steady at next week's Oct. 27–28 meeting.
• Crypto rode the equity rally. Softer rate pressure and the tech rebound lifted digital assets together, with spot Bitcoin ETFs pulling in a modest $23.16 million on Tuesday, the third-smallest daily inflow of October.

What investors are watching next

• The Fed meets Oct. 27–28, with markets overwhelmingly expecting a hold — but December hike odds are still on the table after recent hawkish communication, TradingView News notes.
• Thursday's jobless claims and Friday's S&P Global flash PMIs arrive as the next hard-data checks on the economy.
• Earnings season rolls on, with investors parsing Tesla's and Meta's after-hours results and watching whether the AI capex boom survives scrutiny of spending guidance.
• JPMorgan put Bitcoin in its long-term forecasts for the first time, modeling 10% annualized returns but warning of significant volatility — the kind of cautious Wall Street validation that moves crypto sentiment.
• A warning from Nomura's Andy Goldberg: in the AI era, "one little piece of news" can flip the market and erase a day's gains. Tech-led rallies like this one remain fragile.

Bottom line: Tech carried the market to a third straight up day for the S&P 500 as Q3 earnings delivered the AI confirmation bulls wanted — but with the 10-year yield parked above 5.1% and a Fed meeting six days away, nobody is declaring all-clear. The AI trade is back, at least for today.