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NASDAQ 26,424.82 ▼ -0.02%
SPX 7,712.57 ▲ +0.28%
DJI 52,495.88 ▲ +1.02%
BTC $82,707.64 ▲ +1.04%
GOLD $4,140.80 ▼ -0.46%
SLVR $58.03 ▲ +1.85%
OIL $101.79 ▼ -1.80%
10Y 5.12% ▼ -0.31%
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Wednesday, October 21, 2026
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Good Morning! Elon Musk wants every kid in America to own a piece of SpaceX. He says he’ll give each one a share next year, a gift worth about $10.5 billion, and today’s Rotator walks through what we know so far.
Meanwhile, home builders are the gloomiest they’ve been in 14 years. More than 4 in 10 cut prices this month, and our Chart of the Day shows how far their mood has fallen since 2020.
Would you ride in a robotaxi built in China? Waymo is betting plenty of Americans will. It has ordered thousands of Chinese-made electric vans for its U.S. fleet, even as lawmakers in both parties push to ban Chinese cars. Read more in Loose Change, then hit reply and tell us whether you’d climb in.
Could Elon Musk’s next move create an opportunity outside the companies everyone already knows? Today’s sponsor, Stansberry Research, shares analyst Josh Baylin’s case for a potential smartphone shakeup, and the stock he believes could benefit.
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Farmers are getting $8 billion to cover diesel costs.
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Let’s start with stocks. The Dow gained 530 points, or 1%, on Tuesday, after strong profit reports from Equifax, Hasbro, and other companies. Falling oil prices helped, too, especially for airlines and other companies with big fuel bills. The S&P 500 rose 0.3%, while the Nasdaq slipped slightly as AI stocks swung again. On Monday, tech stocks had led a rebound from last week’s selloff.
Oil prices touched a five-month high on Tuesday, as attacks on tankers and on Saudi oil sites raised worries about supply. Brent crude, the global benchmark, hit nearly $112 a barrel before falling back to settle at $108.79, down 0.7%, as traders hoped for diplomatic progress between the U.S. and Iran. Oil exports from the Middle East are falling as the attacks intensify, one analyst said.
Farmers are getting help with their diesel bills. The Agriculture Department said on Monday it will send $8 billion in one-time payments to cover part of farmers’ fuel losses this harvest. Diesel averages about $6.32 a gallon, up from $3.62 a year ago.
 What to watch today: AT&T and Abbott report earnings before the bell. After the close, Tesla and Meta both report, and investors will be listening for what they say about spending on AI.
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Flying together with our sponsor
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The Most Interesting Part of This Elon Story? It Isn’t Tesla.
A string of FCC filings, trademark applications, spectrum deals, and chip partnerships has Josh Baylin connecting the dots on something he calls “Starphone.”
His theory: Elon Musk could be positioning himself to challenge Apple’s hold on the smartphone industry. And Baylin believes one lesser-known stock could give investors exposure to that potential shift.
It’s a bold prediction, and the outcome is far from certain. But if you like finding investment ideas before they become the headline everyone’s chasing, his research offers a closer look at the clues behind his thesis.
Stansberry Research is sharing his full explanation, including the stock ticker, in a free presentation.
See the stock behind Baylin’s “Starphone” prediction.
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➤ Buy: Goldman Sachs upgraded CoreWeave (CRWV), which rents out computing power to AI companies, from Hold to Buy. In Goldman’s view, CoreWeave is among the best in its field at quickly setting up the huge networks of chips that AI companies run on. (More)
➤ Hold: JPMorgan upgraded Intel (INTC) from Sell to Hold. The bank says that Intel has done a better job delivering on its plans for PC and data center chips since Lip-Bu Tan became CEO. (More)
➤ Sell: Bank of America downgraded Ameriprise Financial (AMP), the financial advice firm, from Buy to Sell and lowered its price target from $570 to $445. The bank says a recent wave of adviser departures could squeeze Ameriprise’s profits. (More)
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Housing Market
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Builder confidence is about a third of its 2020 peak, at 29 out of 100.
➤ Home builders are the gloomiest they’ve been in 14 years. On the National Association of Home Builders’ index, any score under 50 means more builders see sales conditions as poor than good. October’s 29 sits much closer to the record low set during the 2009 housing crash than to the record high of late 2020.
Buyer traffic is the weakest part of the survey, at its lowest level since 2012, not counting the start of the pandemic. Builders blame mortgage rates well above 7% and higher gas prices, and 43% of them cut prices in October, the highest share since 2020.
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Source: National Association of Home Builders.
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Company Spotlight
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Elon Musk is giving a SpaceX share to every kid in America.
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Elon Musk said Monday he’ll give one of his own SpaceX shares to every child in the U.S. next year. With about 72 million Americans under 18, that’s roughly $10.5 billion worth of stock at Friday’s closing price.
The shares will go into Trump Accounts, the new investment accounts for children, President Trump said Monday. Other wealthy donors have already given to those accounts—Michael and Susan Dell pledged $6.25 billion, and SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell and her husband pledged a SpaceX share each for more than 2 million children.
Musk hasn’t said how old a child has to be to get a share, or whether kids must be U.S. citizens. The gift would be roughly 1% of his fortune, which Forbes estimated at about $908.5 billion.
By the Numbers: SpaceX
- Market value: about $1.95 trillion
- Stock since its June IPO: up about 10% from its $135 offering price
- Annual sales: $18.7 billion in 2025, up 33%
- Profit: a loss of $4.9 billion in 2025, but a $4.4 billion profit last quarter
- Employees: about 22,600
- Dividend: None
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➤ Waymo has ordered thousands of Chinese-made electric vans to grow its U.S. robotaxi fleet. Lawmakers in both parties want to ban Chinese-made cars, but Waymo says the vans pass strict security checks and send no sensitive data back to their maker. (More)
➤ A U.S. food importer sued to overturn President Trump’s 50% tariffs on Canadian goods like wine, honey, and hockey sticks. The company says the tariff on its Canadian cheese alone costs it about $40 million a year. (More)
➤ General Motors posted record quarterly revenue of $50 billion and beat Wall Street’s profit forecasts, helped by strong truck sales and smaller losses on electric vehicles. But its stock still fell nearly 7% after GM warned that rising costs and fewer truck deliveries will weigh on the months ahead. (More)
➤ Two Greenpeace activists face up to 10 years in prison in Australia after boarding Woodside Energy’s platform and temporarily halting work on its $12.5 billion gas project, which is 98% complete. The group says it was protesting a separate Woodside project it believes would harm a coral reef. (More)
➤ JPMorgan Chase has invested $5 billion in startups in the first year of its national security push, putting it halfway to its $10 billion goal. Its bets include Hadrian, which builds automated factories for defense parts, and Castelion, which is developing low-cost hypersonic missiles. (More)
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▲ BULLISH · 71%
Composite score based on our previous edition’s votes.
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If a fintech app holds your money at a partner bank, what does FDIC insurance cover?
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