US Stocks closed higher on Wednesday as the AI trade got back on its feet, with the Nasdaq up 1.05% and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index up nearly 2%. SpaceX's first public-company profit and a raised forecast from Super Micro drove the rally, Nvidia was the biggest single contributor to the Nasdaq's gain, and Musk's confirmation that SpaceX and Tesla have formed merger committees kept the Tesla tape busy. After the bell, Meta jumped on a 264% profit surge and only a slight capex raise, and Tesla edged up. Asia led the rebound, with Korea's KOSPI up 3.3% off a six-month low, and Brent holding above $110 remains the main threat.
- The S&P 500 gained 0.58% to 7,757.17, the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.05% to 26,702.86 and the Dow added 360.21 points (0.69%) to 52,856.09, the S&P's third straight gain. Tech led the session after Tuesday's rotation into small caps and blue chips. Nvidia rose 2.54% and added more to the Nasdaq than any other stock after Musk said SpaceX is bringing about 200,000 GB300 GPUs online every month through year-end, roughly 600,000 in Q4 alone, with a 440,000-GPU Vera Rubin cluster planned by mid-2027. AMD, Micron and SK Hynix's US-listed shares rose with it.
- SpaceX (SPCX) gained 7.79% to close at $159.31, about 4.1% below its intraday high, after Tuesday's report of $14.58 billion in Q3 revenue (up 161%), a $4.4 billion net profit and an AI business now earning an operating profit. Musk said a merger with Tesla would be a good idea but warned it is far from guaranteed, calling the process "tap dancing through a minefield." Altimeter's Brad Gerstner expects SpaceX to pay $420–550 per Tesla share against Wednesday's $386 close, which would make it the largest merger in history. The analyst split on spending is stark: JPMorgan models about $300 billion of 2027 capex and KeyBanc $473 billion, and JPMorgan says management told it no equity raise is planned. A lockup expiry on Thursday frees up to 1.3 billion shares. SpaceX also said it plans to launch Starlink Mobile in early 2028, which kept the phone carriers under pressure.
- Super Micro Computer (SMCI) gained 9.55% after it lifted its fiscal first-quarter revenue and margin forecast ahead of its full report next month, and the news lifted server peers HPE and Dell. Abbott fell more than 4% in early trading after its report. Nvidia's CEO Jensen Huang gave his GTC Berlin keynote ahead of the US open, introducing the DSX POD modular AI data-center design, OpenShell agent-security architecture, and robotics, autonomous-driving and healthcare partnerships. SK Hynix completed a record 40 trillion won share buyback.
- After the bell, Meta rose 4–6% after reporting Q3 net profit up 264% year over year and raising its full-year capex only slightly, a relief given that the market's worry has been capital spending running ahead of returns. Tesla gained about 1.5%, with its cash-flow surprise coming roughly half from capex below expectations, and Lam Research also reported. Oil stayed elevated, with Brent above $110 on Gulf tanker attacks, a Ukrainian strike on a Russian oil terminal and doubts over Trump's Russia-sanctions waiver. Fed officials are in their blackout period before the October 28 decision, so earnings and oil are driving the tape.
- Asia led the rebound as SpaceX and Super Micro results revived the AI trade after last week's rout. South Korea's KOSPI rose 3.29% to 5,736 after trading up more than 4% early, recovering from its lowest close in six months. SK Hynix gained about 6% and Samsung 5–7%, and AI infrastructure firm Elice hit its 29.9% upper limit after a 32% drop on its trading debut Tuesday, one of Korea's worst IPO debuts. Japan's Nikkei 225 gained 0.85% to 64,621.24 and the Topix 0.86% to 4,043.73, the first higher close of the week, with Advantest up 5.31% and Tokyo Electron up 3.02%. Taiwan's Taiex rose about 1.3%.
- Greater China lagged. Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell about 0.7–0.9% to near 23,707 and the Shanghai Composite lost 0.6% to 3,713.36, with the CSI 300 down 0.7% and CATL slumping. Japan's September exports jumped 16.7% on strong auto and computer-component sales, but imports surged 18.9% on higher oil prices, widening the trade deficit to ¥536.6 billion against ¥181 billion expected. Australia's ASX 200 added 0.2% to about 8,831 after RBA's Hauser said the inflation outlook looks worse than forecast, putting a November hike in play.
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