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The wild ride for SpaceX shares has picked up momentum.

SpaceX (SPCX) stock hit a fresh post-IPO low on Friday morning, putting it on track for a sixth straight day of losses, after the company scrapped a rocket test flight late yesterday. Shares were recently down more than 5% at $124, a far cry from the highs above $225 set a month ago just days after the company’s record-breaking IPO.

Though SpaceX remains among the world’s most-valuable companies, the slump has trimmed its market capitalization to roughly $1.6 trillion from nearly $3 trillion last month.

Commenting on the planned Starship test flight in a post on X, CEO Elon Musk said late Thursday, “Some of the engines didn’t start, triggering an automatic launch abort.” He added that the next launch attempt could happen in a few days.

There hasn’t been much for SpaceX investors to cheer about in recent weeks, even as the stock has been added to the Nasdaq 100 and other major stock indexes, and as Wall Street investors remain bullish on the prospects for the space exploration, connectivity and AI company. Most analysts have a “buy” recommendation on the stock, with their average price target above $290, according to Visible Alpha.

Investor sentiment has turned amid a broader downturn for AI stocks, while the upcoming expiration of lock-up agreements could add to the volatility. Those agreements, which are set to start expiring in August, keep initial shareholders from selling the stock.

• Netflix shares plunged Friday after the company projected slower revenue growth for the third quarter.
• The company expects third-quarter revenue growth of 11.7%, down from 13.4% in the prior quarter and levels above 17% in the back half of last year.
• Concerns about revenue trends and user engagement have weighed on Netflix stock this year.

Netflix (NFLX) shares tumbled Friday morning after the streaming giant predicted that its revenue growth will slow.

The company late Thursday released second-quarter results that were largely in line with Wall Street estimates, but investors focused on guidance for the current quarter that fell short of expectations. Netflix forecasts that year-over-year revenue will rise 11.7% in the third quarter, down from the 13.4% increase posted in the second quarter and growth rates above 17% in the back half of 2025. Netflix projects earnings per share of 82 cents in the third quarter, compared with the 85 cents analysts had penciled in, according to estimates compiled by Visible Alpha.

Netflix shares dropped as much as 12% to near $65 in early trading Friday, hitting their lowest level since August 2024. The stock, which coming into Friday’s session had lost roughly 20% of its value since the start of the year, was down 9% recently.

Netflix finance chief Adam Neumann downplayed the slowing growth forecast on the company’s earnings call.

“There is a little bit of quarter-to-quarter choppiness in growth because last year was more back-half weighted. So that may be a little bit of what you see in the deceleration,” Neumann said. “But honestly, it’s not what we manage to. We manage to the full year. And halfway through the year, we’re making strong progress against our goals, and we’re tracking to our financial plan for 2026.”

Netflix shares have been under pressure this year amid concerns about its user engagement and the slowdown in revenue growth. In a letter to shareholders Thursday, the company said it plans to give less-frequent updates on its user engagement.

• Alphabet’s latest earnings report is set to be released Wednesday afternoon, with traders anticipating a big move after the results.
• The Google parent is projected to post growing revenue and profits, with investors likely to be watching for signs its AI investments are paying off.

Google parent Alphabet is set to report earnings after the closing bell on Wednesday, with traders anticipating a sizable move from the tech giant’s stock.

Based on recent options pricing, Alphabet (GOOGL) shares are seen swinging up to 5% in either direction by the end of the week following the results. A move of that size from Monday’s close could see the Google and YouTube parent’s shares rise above $370, approaching a high set in May, or slip below $334.

Alphabet shares are up around 13% from where they started the year, but have pulled back 14% from their May highs. Shares rallied after a solid report in April, but the last few weeks have been bumpy for the AI trade amid worries about Big Tech companies’ spending. Alphabet last month announced plans to raise more than $80 billion to pay for its AI infrastructure buildout.

Investors will likely be watching Alphabet’s earnings closely for evidence that the tech industry’s massive AI spending plans are paying off.

Analysts from HSBC recently wrote that they will be looking for insights into whether customers are looking to manage their AI expenses by using lower-cost models, along with how the company sees rising hardware prices impacting its spending plans.

Alphabet is expected to report $117.17 billion in second-quarter revenue, up more than 20% year-over-year, along with earnings of $2.90 per share, up from $2.31 the same time last year, per Visible Alpha estimates. Revenue in its Search business is seen coming in at $63.29 billion, while Google Cloud revenue, a key sign of demand for AI compute, is projected to have risen 65% to $22.50 billion.

Wall Street analysts are overwhelmingly bullish on Alphabet. Eleven of the 12 analysts tracked by Visible Alpha have recommended buying the stock, with one neutral rating. Their mean target around $439 would suggest 25% upside from Monday’s close.

This article has been updated since it was first published to reflect more recent prices and analyst estimates.

News of the Day for July 17, 2026

Stock futures are lower this morning as the tech sector remains under pressure; major indexes enter Friday’s session on track to post losses for the week amid a volatile stretch of trading for AI stocks; Netflix shares are tumbling after the streaming giant issued a disappointing outlook; SpaceX shares continue to hit post-IPO lows; and shares of Google parent Alphabet are falling on news that the launch of its flagship AI model is behind schedule. Here’s what you need to know today.

Stocks are poised to open lower as chip stocks continue to slide. Futures tied to the tech-heavy Nasdaq were down 1.7% recently, while futures linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 fell 0.5% and 0.8%, respectively. The iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) dropped 3% ahead of the opening bell, as Nvidia (NVDA), Broadcom (AVGO), Intel (INTC) and Micron (MU) all retreated. WTI oil futures were up more than 2% at around $81 per barrel, trading near their highest level in a month, as fighting continues in Iran. Gold futures were little-changed at just under $4,000 an ounce, hovering near their lowest levels since last fall, while bitcoin traded at $63,200, down from yesterday’s high around $65,000.

Investors have had a lot to digest this week, and it’s led to some bumpy trading. The Dow enters Friday’s session down 0.2% so far this week, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite have shed 0.5% and 1.5%, respectively. On the positive side this week, a flurry of earnings report from major banks largely came in better than expected, while closely watched inflation data was also encouraging. Meanwhile, the conflict between the U.S. and Iran has escalated, raising concerns about potential economic consequences. And AI stocks have come under significant pressure amid uncertainty about the sustainability of the spending that has propelled the market to a series of record highs over the past year. Major tech companies, including Alphabet (GOOGL), Intel (INTC) and Tesla (TSLA), are due to report results next week, as earnings season kicks into a higher gear.

Shares of Netflix (NFLX) are tumbling in pre-market trading after the streaming giant’s outlook missed analysts’ projections and the company said it plans to give less frequent updates on its user engagement. Netflix’s second-quarter results largely matched Wall Street estimates, but the company said it expects current-quarter earnings per share of 82 cents on revenue of $12.86 billion, below the EPS of 85 cents on revenue of $13.01 billion analysts had called for. Netflix shares, which through Thursday’s close were down 20% since the start of the year, fell 11% ahead of Friday’s opening bell.

SpaceX (SPCX) shares are sliding again this morning after five straight days of declines. The stock closed Thursday below its $135 IPO price for the first time, a stunning reversal from the levels above $225 reached a few days after it started trading in mid-June. While analysts remain largely bullish on SpaceX stock—the average price target is around $290, according to estimates compiled by Visible Alpha—ongoing investor concerns about the outlook for tech stocks and the upcoming expiration of lock-up agreements could limit any potential upside. SpaceX shares were down 4% in recent trading.

Shares of Alphabet (GOOGL) are losing ground this morning after falling sharply late yesterday following a report that the release of Google’s Gemini 3.5 Pro AI model will be delayed by months. Bloomberg reported that Google engineers are particularly focused on improving the model’s coding capabilities, after updates to the data being used to train Gemini 3.5 Pro generated disappointing results late last month. Alphabet unveiled the new model at the Google I/O developer conference in May, saying that it would be ready for wide distribution the following month. Google is in a race against other tech giants, notably OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta Platforms (META), to develop powerful AI models. Alphabet shares were down more than 1% ahead of the opening bell, after falling 4.4% yesterday.

• Tesla’s next earnings report is set to be released Wednesday afternoon, with traders anticipating more volatility from the EV maker’s stock following the report.
• Sales and profits are projected to have grown in the second quarter, but investors could be more focused on Tesla’s long-term projects.

Tesla is scheduled to report earnings after markets close on Wednesday, with traders anticipating a big move from the EV maker’s stock.

Tesla (TSLA) shares are seen swinging up to 6% in either direction by the end of the week following the results, based on recent options pricing. A move of that size from Monday’s close could see the shares sink below $348, or rise above $391, recovering some of their recent losses.

Tesla shares are about 18% off where they started the year, amid lingering uncertainty around the company’s transformation effort and speculation around a potential merger with SpaceX (SPCX), another Elon Musk-led company that went public last month and recently slipped below its IPO price.

Tesla is in the midst of a transformation to focus its business on physical applications of AI, including fully autonomous vehicles and humanoid robots.

Morgan Stanley analysts recently lifted their price target to $417 from $415, and said they see Tesla turning in a solid second quarter, but that investors will likely be more focused on updates to long-term projects. The analysts said the “key investor debate remains unchanged: can Robotaxi and Optimus progress quickly enough to justify an accelerating AI investment cycle?”

Tesla is expected to report second-quarter revenue of $26.54 billion, up 18% year-over-year, along with adjusted earnings of 55 cents per share, up 15 cents from the same quarter a year ago. Earlier this month, Tesla topped delivery estimates as the EV maker’s sales improved in the first half of the year after Tesla posted two straight years of declining sales.

Tesla’s stock remains a divisive one on Wall Street, with the 11 analysts tracked by Visible Alpha split between six neutral and four “buy” ratings, along with one recommendation to sell the stock. Their targets range from $130 to $600, with an average target of $408 suggesting 10% upside from Monday’s close.

This article has been updated since it was first published to reflect more recent prices.

Investors are cautiously optimistic about the stock market, even as many of their favorite stocks have sold off

• Individual investors remain cautiously optimistic about the stock market, according to Investopedia‘s quarterly survey.

• Fears of bubbles in and overvaluations of AI shares persist, yet most investors are holding their positions in those stocks.

• Investors are favoring ETFs, energy and foreign stocks more than they did earlier this year.

• The impact of the war in Iran and inflation are top concerns.

Individual investors continue to prove their resilience and maintain their optimism more than halfway through a volatile year for stocks and continued geopolitical uncertainty, according to Investopedia‘s latest reader survey.

Sixty percent of readers say they are optimistic or cautiously optimistic about the stock market, though many are worried about the impact of the war with Iran, which has driven up prices throughout the economy. That level of optimism is up from 50% in April, and the highest it has been all year.

While most investors remain optimistic, their appetite for individual stocks may be waning. More than one-third of respondents indicated that they are buying more exchange-traded funds than stocks in recent weeks. That may be in response to heightened volatility and fears of bubbles in semiconductor and AI-related stocks like SanDisk (SNDK) and Nvidia (NVDA).

According to Vanda Research, SanDisk and Nvidia have been among the most sold stocks by individual investors outside of their retirement accounts, while SpaceX (SPCX) and Microsoft (MSFT) are among those most purchased over the past two weeks.

While the stock market itself has traded in a fairly narrow range in 2026, individual stocks like Micron Technology (MU), IBM (IBM) and Western Digital (WDC) have experienced price swings of over 25% within a day or week.

More than half of respondents think that AI-related stocks are in a bubble even though many of those stocks are among their top holdings.

FOMO, or fear of missing out, may be keeping them from selling long-held positions in stocks like Nvidia and Micron, chipmakers that have been among the biggest beneficiaries of the AI buildout.

A small cohort of respondents say they have been paring back their positions in Magnificent 7 stocks and adding international stocks, energy stocks, index funds and ETFs.

Investors have suffered through plenty of headline risk in 2026 amid the wars in Iran and Ukraine, tariff uncertainty and persistent inflation. Those remain among investors’ top concerns today, yet the majority of respondents are not expecting the market to drop significantly because of them. Respondents remain fairly split on whether they expect the stock market will rise or fall 5% or more over the next six months.

Most respondents like to keep their politics and their investments separate, which has been a sound strategy for decades. It may be getting harder to do that lately, as the Trump administration has made as much as $10 billion in direct equity investments in public companies like Intel (INTC) and MP Materials (MP), a rare-earth mining company, among others. More than two-thirds of respondents say they’re opposed to the government making direct investments in public companies. 

More than 40% of respondents approve of the Fed’s handling of interest rate policy, which is down from 57% in April before Kevin Warsh became Fed Chair. Thirty percent are concerned about the Fed’s independence, which has also dropped since Warsh took over the role.

Investors remain fairly split on what they would do with an extra $10,000 to invest right now, with 22% selecting ETFs and 21% selecting individual stocks. ETFs and stocks have rotated as the number one and two choices for the past year, with ETFs claiming the top spot during periods of market turbulence. Given the ongoing geopolitical uncertainty and instability, it’s not a surprise that they are investors’ top choice now. 

• SpaceX shares closed below their $135 IPO price for the first time, marking a sharp decline from their earlier highs.
• Broader market sentiment shifts and lock-up expirations could increase selling pressure—or get the shares rising again.

What a short, strange trip it’s been.

SpaceX (SPCX) shares finished Thursday below their $135 IPO price for the first time, closing down 3% at just above $131 as broader markets tumbled amid a tech sell-off. The move marked a fifth straight daily decline and punctuates a dramatic comedown for a stock that was launched to great hullaballoo in mid-June. Shares of the Elon Musk-led company have lost 42% of their value since hitting a record high above $225 a few days after the IPO.

What’s the outlook now? Wall Street analysts remain broadly bullish, with Visible Alpha’s mean price target above $290, though ongoing concerns about the outlook for tech stocks and the upcoming expiration of agreements that prohibit early investors from selling could weigh on SpaceX shares.

Hot IPOs often fall after an early pop, and SpaceX is no exception. Still, after a little more than a month, many are likely now trying to sort out how exactly to treat Elon Musk’s big new public offering, shares of which ended Thursday below their IPO price.

Some investors now view the company as a “value stock,” while Leuthold Capital in a note this week suggested that the shares are best left to those whose interest is “based on a desire to participate in some small way in the fantastic, almost unimaginable future that Isaac Asimov dreamt about.”

SpaceX hasn’t fallen in a vacuum, despite space being known for being one. Investors have, to start the second half, turned away from the corners of the AI trade—AI is part of SpaceX’s business, along with connectivity and rockets—that were so powerful to start the year. That was certainly the case today, as measured by a few gauges: the tech-focused Nasdaq 100 index retreated 1.6%, while the SOX index of chip stocks dropped more than 4% and the Roundhill Memory ETF (DRAM) tumbled nearly 9%.

Market sentiment has changed quickly and could again; a softer-than-expected inflation reading this week, for example, may signal less need for the Fed to possibly raise interest rates. That could translate into more support for stocks seen as more speculative. (One place that has shown up: rising bitcoin prices.)

Still, investors have been wary about loading up on SpaceX even as some generally positive events, including the stock’s addition to the Nasdaq 100 index, have passed. Some are now looking ahead to the start of the expiration of lock-up agreements that could mean more shares hit the market, which can mean selling by other investors ahead of that time.

• UnitedHealth shares surged after the company reported second-quarter earnings that far exceeded Wall Street expectations.
• The company also raised its full-year earnings forecast, signaling confidence in its financial outlook.
• The big jump in UnitedHealth’s stock price helped lift the Dow Jones Industrial Average earlier in the day.

Shares of UnitedHealth Group jumped to their highest level in more than a year Thursday after the health care and insurance giant announced results that handily topped Wall Street expectations.

UnitedHealth (UNH) reported operating earnings of almost $8 billion for the second quarter, and adjusted earnings per share of $6.38, compared to analysts’ estimates of $4.4 billion and $4.68 per share, according to Visible Alpha data. The company also raised its full-year adjusted EPS guidance to a range of $19.50 to $20, above its prior forecast of more than $18.25.

The stock rose as much 10% early in Thursday’s session, hitting its highest level since April 2025, when a disappointing report and outlook sent the stock to its worst day in decades. Shares were up 2% in late-afternoon trading amid broader weakness in the U.S. stock market.

The initial surge in UnitedHealth stock was a major reason the Dow Jones Industrial Average was higher earlier today, adding roughly 250 points on its own. The Dow is a price-weighted index—as opposed to the S&P 500, which is market-cap weighted—and UnitedHealth is the third most-expensive stock at the moment, behind only Goldman Sachs (GS) and Caterpillar (CAT).

• The U.S. is set to begin charging a 25% tariff on many products from Brazil starting next week.
• The tariff replaces a 50% tariff that the Supreme Court struck down earlier this year.
• Numerous products are exempted from the new import tax, including coffee and beef.

The U.S. economy has already absorbed two major waves of tariffs since President Donald Trump took office last year, and now a third is about to begin.

Starting next week, U.S. importers will pay a 25% tax on many items from Brazil, the U.S. Trade Representative said late Wednesday. The tariff replaces a 50% tariff that Trump imposed last year, but which was struck down by the Supreme Court earlier this year.

The Brazil tariff is at the forefront of a new wave of import taxes. Past rounds of tariffs have pushed up inflation and dragged on employment.

The new tariff is part of a third round of import taxes Trump imposed on most U.S. trading partners in an effort to encourage companies to build factories in the U.S. instead of overseas and boost manufacturing employment.

The first set of tariffs, imposed mostly under presidential emergency powers, was mostly struck down by the Supreme Court and largely refunded to the businesses that paid them. The second, a 10% global tariff imposed in the wake of Trump’s Supreme Court defeat, is set to expire July 24 unless extended by Congress.

The third wave is a series of tariffs against dozens of other countries being investigated by the Trade Representative under Section 301, a legal justification that some experts say is more cumbersome to implement, but on a stronger legal footing than the emergency tariffs that were struck down.

“Today’s action is necessary to address these unfair trade practices to ensure American workers and companies can compete on a level playing field,” Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in a written statement. “Extensive negotiations with Brazil over the past year have not resolved these issues, but we remain open to continuing negotiations with Brazil to bring about long-needed changes to the problems identified in this investigation.”

Like other tariffs imposed by the Trump administration, the new import tax won’t apply to many products from Brazil, including beef and coffee. The list of exemptions is 96 pages long and includes numerous food items.

Still, the fresh wave of tariffs could push up prices on store shelves at a time when household budgets are under strain from five years of higher-than-normal inflation and are exacerbated by the surge in fuel prices from the war in Iran. The result could be a double-whammy for inflation, of which the Brazil tariffs are just the beginning.

The combination of new tariffs amid the high oil prices could force central banks, including the Federal Reserve, to raise interest rates to counteract it, Ryan Sweet, chief global economist at Oxford Economics, wrote in a commentary,

The tariffs thus far have roiled the U.S. economy since they were first imposed in early 2025. Additional import taxes have been largely passed along to consumers, amplifying inflation. The tariffs have also weighed on the job market and the economy, with some employers saying they’ve delayed expansion and hiring plans due to uncertainty about future trade rules amid frequent changes to tariff policy.

• Recent college graduates are experiencing the largest increase in unemployment among all labor groups, mainly due to a slowing labor market.
• AI-related job requirements have disproportionately affected young workers, creating skill barriers to entry-level positions.

The biggest factor keeping the unemployment rate high for young workers is a symptom of the business cycle, according to a recent report from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

The U.S. labor market has slowed significantly from its 2023 peak, with inflation and economic uncertainty discouraging employers from hiring. The labor market has generally entered a “low-fire, low-hire” phase, and recent college graduates are especially struggling. Experts have blamed the rise of AI and remote work for blocking out these young workers from entry-level jobs.

Finding a job post-graduation is important to recent college students, the majority of whom borrowed student loans and must begin repayment six months after graduating.

The St. Louis Fed found that slowing labor market trends have directly led to a 2.2 percentage-point increase in the unemployment rate for recent college graduates. For young workers aged 18 to 24 with no more than a high school diploma, the slowing labor market has led to a 1.23 percentage-point increase in the unemployment rate. Older workers have fared the best, with a 1.1 percentage-point increase.

“Since April 2023, hiring has slowed, and young workers, especially new entrants, have borne the brunt of that softening,” St. Louis Fed researchers wrote. “AI adds an additional headwind at the point of labor market entry, particularly for recent college graduates, but its effects remain smaller than those of the broader decline in job openings.”

Although not the main factor, AI is contributing to a meaningful increase in the unemployment rate among young workers. Specifically, the St. Louis Fed found that the increase in job postings requiring AI skills is cutting out more young workers.

Other studies back up this conclusion. Earlier this year, a survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers found that more than a third of employers require their entry-level workers to have AI skills. The popularity of this sentiment has grown three times compared to last fall.

According to the St. Louis Fed, recent college graduates have experienced a 1.68 percentage-point increase in their unemployment rate due to AI-related labor market changes. That is more than five times the impact for workers aged 25 to 64 and eight times higher than for workers aged 18 to 24 with no more than a high school diploma.

Jobs for college graduates are generally more exposed to AI than trade or hands-on occupations. Recent college graduates have struggled to find employment as AI is increasingly incorporated into jobs, raising the skill requirements, St. Louis Fed researchers said.

Additionally, the majority of college students say their institutions are not effectively incorporating AI into degree programs, creating a skills gap upon graduation.