$SpaceX(SPCX.US) just delivered its first earnings report as a public company, and investors couldn't decide whether to celebrate or panic. Revenue nearly doubled to $7.8B, crushing estimates, and the stock rallied 9% intraday, only to reverse and slide about 9% after hours once investors clocked $18.4B in quarterly capex, far above expectations. Elsewhere, $Dow(DOW.US) closed above 54,000 for the first time ever, and $Palantir Tech(PLTR.US) soared 29% on blowout results. Let's dig in 👇
💬 Is $SpaceX(SPCX.US) capex the cost of ambition, or a warning sign?
📊 Quick Recap — What Moved & Why
🇺🇸 US — SpaceX's Reversal, Records All Around
🔑 Key Event: $SpaceX(SPCX.US) reported its first results as a public company Tuesday: revenue of $7.81B beat estimates by a wide margin, up 92% YoY, while its net loss narrowed sharply to $541M from $1B a year ago. Shares had rallied about 9% during the regular session as part of a broad market rally, but reversed hard after hours, falling roughly 9% to around $114, after investors focused on $18.4B in quarterly capex (nearly 6x higher than a year ago) rather than the earnings beat itself.
👀 Other to Watch
- US indexes → $Dow Jones Industrial Average(.DJI.US) closed above 54,000 for the first time (54,085.88, +1.71%), with the $S&P 500(.SPX.US) (7,736.51, +1.79%) and $NASDAQ Composite Index(.IXIC.US) (26,584.99, +2.59%) also hitting records, lifted by earnings euphoria and hopes for an oil-price truce.
- $Palantir Tech(PLTR.US) +29.5% → its biggest one-day gain since February 2024, after Q2 revenue jumped 93% to $1.94B and the company raised full-year guidance to $8.15-8.16B; CEO Alex Karp framed the results around AI "sovereignty," urging companies to keep control of their own data and models.
- $AMD(AMD.US) → beat on revenue (+50% to $11.54B) and EPS, and even guided Q3 revenue above consensus, but shares still fell about 8.9% after hours on a gross-margin miss (54% versus a 56% consensus) tied to costs from ramping its Helios AI infrastructure.
- $Caterpillar(CAT.US) → topped $20B in quarterly revenue for the first time (+24% to $20.5B), beat EPS estimates by nearly $2, and raised its full-year outlook on a record $72.1B backlog, partly driven by data-centre power-generation demand.
- Also reporting → $Pfizer(PFE.US) beat and raised its full-year revenue floor to $60.5B; $Snap(SNAP.US) jumped on a World Cup-driven ad boost, with analysts calling its low subscriber-conversion rate room to grow rather than a weakness; $McDonald's(MCD.US) slid to a 52-week low as slowing US same-store sales and falling domestic traffic overshadowed the headline numbers, prompting the company to name Skye Anderson to head its US business.
🇸🇬 Singapore — STI Flattens Out After a Four-Day Slide
🔑 Key Event: $FTSE Straits Times Index(STI.SG) closed roughly flat at 5,612.25 on Tuesday, capping a fourth straight session of losses that has shaved more than 100 points (1.7%) off the index, even as the outlook brightens on falling oil prices and hopes for a Middle East de-escalation.
👀 Other to Watch
- Banks → $DBS(D05.SG) firmed to S$74.45 on Monday while $OCBC Bank(O39.SG) and $UOB(U11.SG) eased slightly, as the sector's momentum cooled into Tuesday's flat STI close.
🇭🇰 HK/China — Bank Rotation Drags the Index, Innolight Whips Around
🔑 Key Event: Hong Kong diverged sharply from Wall Street's rally on Tuesday: $Hang Seng Index(00HSI.HK) fell 0.60% to 25,852.92 and $Hang Seng China Enterprises Index(HSCEI.HK) fell 0.90%, dragged by a rotation out of high-dividend mainland bank shares, even as $Hang Seng TECH Index(STECH.HK) rose 0.21% on strength in AI-hardware and optical names. That divergence continued into Wednesday morning, with the broader indexes little changed while Zhongji Innolight reversed hard, giving back much of Tuesday's 17% surge.
👀 Other to Watch
- Zhongji Innolight ( $ZJ INNOLIGHT(03308.HK) ) → swung from a 17% surge Tuesday to a decline of nearly 15% Wednesday morning, as the optical-component trade that drove Tuesday's HSTECH gains reversed hard.
- HSBC ($HSBC HOLDINGS(00005.HK) / $HSBC Holdings Plc(HSBA.UK) ) → reported H1 pretax profit of $19.5B, up 23% YoY (Q2 alone was up 60%), and resumed a $1B share buyback for the first time since pausing in October 2025 to fund the Hang Seng Bank privatization; shares still fell about 1% on results day.
- SHEIN → is targeting a $30-40B valuation for a Hong Kong IPO, with pre-deal investor meetings already underway, according to Reuters.
🌍 Other
- Oil → Brent and WTI both fell more than 5% Tuesday (WTI to $75.77, Brent to $79.36) after US Treasury Secretary Bessent said a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz could come within two days; Iran's government has publicly denied any such talks are taking place, so treat the rumor with caution.
- Fed → Kansas City Fed's Jeffrey Schmid said tighter policy is still needed to bring inflation to 2%, warning that AI-driven investment is "pushing up inflation in a way the Fed can't ignore" and questioning whether the sector risks becoming "another too big to fail."
- $Amazon(AMZN.US) → crossed a $3 trillion market cap for the first time on Monday, joining the small club of companies to reach that milestone.
📅 Key Events This Week
- 🇺🇸 $Sandisk(SNDK.US) & $Western Digital(WDC.US) Q4 FY2026 earnings · tonight, after Aug 5 US close
- 🇸🇬 $DBS(D05.SG) Q2/H1 2026 results · Thursday Aug 6
- 🇸🇬 $OCBC Bank(O39.SG) & $UOB(U11.SG) Q2/H1 2026 results · Friday Aug 7
- 🇺🇸 US July jobs report · reportedly due Friday Aug 7
- 🇸🇬 SGX Group FY2026 results · Thursday Aug 6
- 🇺🇸 July CPI · reportedly due around Aug 12-13
- 🌍 Strait of Hormuz talks · watch for confirmation or denial this week, oil driver
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🚫 No duplicates · ⏰ Deadline: August 5, 2026, 11:59 PM SGT
Not investment advice, just market talk 🙏