> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.sharespective.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Two for One - URL: https://www.sharespective.com/sharespective-2026-10-22/ - Published: 2026-10-21T21:15:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-21T21:14:59.000Z - Description: Elon Musk says SpaceX and Tesla have both set up committees to weigh a merger. - Author: Shaun Botha - Tags: Daily | ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/02/71/0271df32-cec6-421f-9f13-b06ab90e54c1/content/images/2026/08/mark-light-3.png) | SharespectiveWall Street, before morning tea | Daily newsletterThu 22 Oct 2026 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | -------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------- | | ![Today's edition](https://storage.ghost.io/c/02/71/0271df32-cec6-421f-9f13-b06ab90e54c1/content/images/2026/08/kicker-1.png)Two for One**Plus:** Elon Musk says SpaceX and Tesla have both set up committees to weigh a merger. | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | **Good morning, and welcome to Thursday.** Technology shares led Wall Street higher on Wednesday. The NASDAQ Composite rose 1.05% to 26,702.86, and the S&P 500 added 0.58% to 7,757.17. The Dow gained 0.69% to 52,856.09\. Bond yields edged up, with the 10-year Treasury at 5.15%, and shares rose anyway. The biggest news came after the bell, when Meta and Tesla reported within minutes of each other. In company news, Super Micro Computer jumped 9.55% after lifting its revenue forecast for the September quarter well above Wall Street's estimates. Elsewhere, AT&T fell 6.45% despite beating profit forecasts, because investors worried about competition from SpaceX's Starlink phone service. Finally, Netflix fell 5.31% to US$65.04 as investors digested Tuesday's weaker forecast. AI is back, apparently. ### Market snapshot | S&P 5007,757.17**▲ 0.58%** | ​ | NASDAQ26,702.86**▲ 1.05%** | ​ | NZX 5013,761.37**▲ 0.95%** | | -------------------------- | - | -------------------------- | - | ----------------------------------- | | ​ | | | | | | ASX 2008,831.27**▲ 0.16%** | ​ | SpaceXUS$159.31**▲ 7.79%** | ​ | United AirlinesUS$101.67**▲ 3.99%** | US index levels are Wednesday 21 October's closes in New York. The NZX 50 and ASX 200 are Wednesday's local closes, taken before Thursday's open. SpaceX and United Airlines show Wednesday's closing price and that session's move. | ​ | BIG TECH | | - | -------- | ## Meta beat on revenue, took a US$9.89 billion legal charge and created shares without votes Meta closed Wednesday at US$697.52, up 0.47%, ahead of its results. Once they landed, the shares rose more than 3% in after-hours trading. **The advertising business is growing fast.** Revenue rose 26% in the September quarter to US$64.6 billion, ahead of the roughly US$63.3 billion expected. Meta showed 10% more ads than a year earlier, and charged 14% more for each one. Profit took a hit from the courts. Meta booked a US$9.89 billion charge after settling with 52 state attorneys general over teen mental health, and the deal could cost it up to about US$18.59 billion in all. Net income still came to US$9.86 billion. Spending is the other drain. Meta put US$34.91 billion into data centres and equipment in the quarter. It now expects to spend US$135 billion to US$145 billion this year, with the bottom of the range up from US$130 billion. Free cash flow was negative US$2.12 billion. Then came the new shares. Every shareholder will get one Class C share for each share they own, starting in January 2027\. Class C shares carry no votes, so Meta can issue them to raise money or pay staff while Mark Zuckerberg keeps control. | Our viewMeta is creating a share class built for raising money in a quarter when its free cash flow went negative. That tells you how much it expects to spend. We'd want to see the 2027 spending plan before reading much into a 3% move after hours. | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | ​ | DEALS | | - | ----- | ## Musk says SpaceX and Tesla are weighing a merger, and SpaceX rose 7.79% SpaceX closed Wednesday at US$159.31, up 7.79%. Tesla rose 3.41% to US$386.47\. Both moves came from the same remark, made on SpaceX's results call on Tuesday evening in New York. **So what did Musk actually say?** He told investors that the boards of both companies have set up special committees of independent directors to look at combining them. Asked whether it would be a good idea, he said yes, but added that shareholders would have to support it. Musk sits on both sides of any deal, so he cannot take part in the talks. He owns about 48% of SpaceX, counting restricted shares, and about a fifth of Tesla. The committees have not agreed on any terms. The size is hard to picture. SpaceX is worth about US$2.16 trillion and Tesla about US$1.53 trillion. Together they would be worth more than US$3.6 trillion. Tesla reported its own results after Wednesday's close. Revenue was US$28.05 billion, flat on a year earlier, and adjusted earnings of 48 US cents a share beat the 45 cents expected. The operating margin was just 2.6%, and the shares edged higher after hours. | The open questionwhat Tesla shareholders would be swapping into. Today they own a carmaker with a robotaxi project attached. After a merger they would own a slice of rockets, Starlink and an AI business. Tesla must hold its annual meeting by 6 December, the earliest obvious place for a vote. | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | ​ | AIRLINES | | - | -------- | ## United Airlines rose 3.99% as passengers kept paying higher fares United Airlines rose 3.99% on Wednesday to US$101.67, the day after its results. Revenue in the September quarter was a record US$17.9 billion, up 17.4% on a year earlier. **Fuel is why fares are going up.** United paid an average of US$3.90 a gallon for jet fuel in the quarter. Its fuel bill rose by US$1.8 billion, or 61.6%, from a year earlier. The airline says it won back 72% of that extra cost through higher fares, and expects to recover all of it with a lag. Chief executive Scott Kirby argued that because costs have risen for every airline, every airline has to charge more. The oil price is not helping. Attacks on Saudi oil sites have kept Brent crude, the global benchmark, near US$109 a barrel. United expects to pay about US$4.80 a gallon in the December quarter. Even so, United expects December-quarter revenue to grow by more than 20%, another record. It expects earnings of between 50 US cents and US$1.50 a share, against US$2.54 in the September quarter. | The catchfuel at US$4.80 is 23% dearer than last quarter, and that is a lot to pass on to passengers. United still targets double-digit pre-tax margins in 2027, up from 7.3% this quarter. Our read is that the target depends on bookings holding up at these fares into the new year. | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ### Newsworthy numbers | ​ | ​ | ​ | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | - | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | 3.64 billionpeople who used at least one of Meta's apps each day in September, on average, up 3% on a year earlier. | ​ | 1.74 millionFull Self-Driving subscriptions Tesla counted at the end of September, up 67%. The count includes drivers who paid up front. | | ​ | | | | ​ | ​ | ​ | | US$19.5 billionthe top of Super Micro Computer's new revenue forecast for the September quarter. Its previous forecast topped out at US$15.5 billion. | ​ | 45.22 kmhow far NASA's Perseverance rover has now driven on Mars, a record for any vehicle on another world. It took five and a half years; Opportunity needed almost 15, though it was only meant to last 90 days. | ### Worth a read | ​ | | | -- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | 01 | **[Early KiwiSaver withdrawals rose to $243.6 million in September](https://www.interest.co.nz/personal-finance/140756/volume-financial-hardship-withdrawals-overtook-early-kiwisaver-withdrawals?ref=sharespective.com)** — Mandy Te on hardship withdrawals overtaking first-home withdrawals by number in September, 5,440 to 4,250\. First-home buyers still took about 80% of the money. | | ​ | | | 02 | **[Romance bookstores are having a meet-cute moment](https://thehustle.co/news/romance-bookstores-are-having-a-meet-cute-moment?ref=sharespective.com)** — Danny Jensen on the romance-only bookshops spreading across the US, more than 230 in three years. Romance print sales more than doubled between 2020 and 2023. | | ​ | | | 03 | **[Conflict in the Red Sea is forcing cloud giants to find a new route for the internet](https://restofworld.org/2026/google-meta-red-sea-subsea-cables-houthi-yemen/?ref=sharespective.com)** — Indranil Ghosh on why Google paid two to three times the usual price for fibre along Turkish pipelines. More than 90% of Europe-Asia data capacity runs through Red Sea cables. | | ​ | | | 04 | **[Astronomers Uncover New Secrets of the Universe's First Five Minutes](https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/10/261019093442.htm?ref=sharespective.com)** — Evan Skillman's team at the University of Minnesota measured the helium made just after the Big Bang to within 0.5%, from 130 hours of observing 15 small galaxies. | | ​ | | | 05 | **[Have You Been to the Sixth-Worst McDonald's in America?](https://longreads.com/2026/10/21/sixth-worst-mcdonalds-stafford-virginia/?ref=sharespective.com)** — Sylvie McNamara of Washingtonian goes looking for why one Virginia McDonald's rates so badly on Google. Part of the answer is a general manager who is reportedly 20. | ### Wrapping up Canada and Europe set interest rates next week. The Bank of Canada decides on Wednesday 28 October in Ottawa. The European Central Bank follows at 2.15​am Friday 30 October in Auckland, 12.15​am in Sydney. Procter & Gamble reports before Thursday's open in New York, at 1.30​am Friday in Auckland. After United's results, the line to watch is whether P&G's higher prices are still costing it sales volume. The kiwi firmed for a fourth straight session, and USD/NZD eased to 1.75\. USD/AUD slipped to 1.42. Kiwis, the long weekend is one sleep away. See you tomorrow. ​ General information and commentary only, not financial advice. It does not take account of your objectives, financial situation or needs, and reflects the author's own reading of public information at the time of writing, which may be wrong. Sharespective, its people and its clients may hold positions in the companies covered. Do your own research and talk to a licensed adviser.