SpaceX and AST SpaceMobile Fall 5%, Rocket Lab Sheds 4% as China Rocket Milestone and Oil Spike Hit Space Stocks

1 month ago 21

David Moadel

Mon, July 13, 2026 astatine 10:18 AM CDT 4 min read

Quick Read

China's Long March booster betterment led Bernstein to sanction China SpaceX's apical rival, sending SPCX down and apt weighing connected RKLB and ASTS.
The UFO ETF slid 2% arsenic crude spiked connected Hormuz tensions, portion Bank of America maintained a Buy standing connected RKLB with a $115 target.
Act now: the expert who called NVIDIA successful 2010 conscionable named his apical 10 AI stocks — and Rocket Lab didn't marque the cut. Grab the names FREE today.

Shares of SpaceX (NASDAQ:SPCX) are down 5% to $138.58 successful aboriginal Monday trading, a caller grounds debased that sits beneath the $150 debut terms and good disconnected the $225 highest connected June 16. The descent extends a bruising agelong for the stock, which had already dropped 10% implicit the anterior week.

A large, orangish and achromatic rocket lifts disconnected from a launchpad, surrounded by superb orangish flames and heavy achromatic smoke. The motorboat operation is disposable connected the close side, partially obscured by the agleam exhaust. The entity supra is simply a heavy blue, with the airy from the engines creating a lukewarm glow adjacent the horizon.

Rocket Lab (NASDAQ:RKLB) is disconnected 4% to $78.10, and AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) is down 5% to $69.82. The Procure Space ETF (NYSEARCA:UFO), the sector's cleanest proxy, is down 2% to $46.

The backdrop is risk-off marketplace sentiment. The Strait of Hormuz struggle has lifted the WTI crude lipid terms and pushed the NASDAQ 100 down 1.09%, pressuring high-beta, pre-profit names first. WTI crude lipid spiked 4.41% implicit the past 24 hours to $74.56 per barrel.

China Rocket Milestone Rattles the SpaceX Trade

Bernstein named China SpaceX's "leading competitor" aft China's Long March 10B landed a reusable first-stage booster connected July 10, the country's archetypal orbital-class booster betterment utilizing a sea-based net-and-hook platform. That milestone punctures the communicative that reusability is simply a uniquely American moat.

Bernstein maintained an Outperform standing and a $239 terms target, arguing SpaceX inactive leads by a wide borderline with astir 165 launches past twelvemonth and astir a decennary of Falcon 9 reuse, portion China has 1 landing and has not demonstrated booster reuse. The Street mean SPCX banal terms people sits adjacent $242, and Raymond James carries a precocious $800 target.

Act now: the expert who called NVIDIA successful 2010 conscionable named his apical 10 AI stocks — and Rocket Lab didn't marque the cut. Grab the names FREE today.

The carnivore lawsuit is the valuation debate. SpaceX shares present commercialized beneath their IPO price, and critics telephone the aggregate speculative fixed a a ample marketplace headdress against a backstage operating concern investors cannot exemplary directly. The bull lawsuit leans connected motorboat cadence dominance, Starlink currency flow, and scarcity worth successful a listed vehicle.

Rocket Lab Slides Despite a Space Force Win

Rocket Lab banal is falling contempt affirmative quality for the company, which underscores the macro quality of today's move. The institution announced afloat ngo occurrence connected the U.S. Space Force VICTUS HAZE responsive-space demo, launching wrong 16 hours 42 minutes of notice, a record. Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) carries a Buy standing and a $115 people pursuing its latest acquisition plan.

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