SpaceX’s first quarterly profit as a publicly traded company helped strengthen global equity markets on Wednesday, as its results offered reassurance to investors questioning the outlook for the artificial intelligence boom. The company’s shares advanced overnight, while technology futures rose ahead of US trading. European stock markets were mostly higher after gains in Asia, with attention turning to whether forthcoming earnings from Meta and Tesla would reinforce the improvement in sentiment.

SpaceX reported net profit of $4.4 billion for July-September, more than double expectations and a reversal from a loss of $1.1 billion a year earlier.6 billion. The results gave investors evidence of substantial growth alongside a move into profitability, rather than revenue expansion alone. That combination provided a favourable earnings signal amid market unease over the outlook for an AI boom involving hundreds of billions in corporate investment.

The figures mark a milestone for a business that listed in June following a world-record initial public offering. Its first quarterly profit as a public company now gives shareholders a profitable reporting period against which to assess subsequent performance. The strong earnings were linked to the wider market response: AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould pointed to SpaceX’s results as a factor behind US futures indicating a higher opening on Wall Street.

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Elon Musk also said he would support a merger between SpaceX, his rocket and AI company, and Tesla, the electric-car company he also runs. His comments introduced a potential corporate combination alongside the earnings news, although support for a merger is distinct from an agreed transaction. The merger remarks accompanied the reported profit and revenue figures as investors awaited Tesla’s own results later on Wednesday.

The broader significance of SpaceX’s earnings lay in their arrival during a period of uncertainty over the AI boom. Companies have invested hundreds of billions in research and development involving software, data centres and other hardware. KCM Trade analyst Tim Waterer said earnings that exceeded expectations and encouraging company updates were reducing some of the recent anxiety surrounding AI. His assessment linked the easing of those concerns to both strong earnings and constructive corporate updates.

Earnings projections from Glenmede illustrate why technology results carry particular weight for the wider US market. Its forecast put third-quarter S&P 500 earnings at $180 billion, with $116 billion expected from the Magnificent Seven companies and the rest of the technology industry. Those figures are projections, not a statement of completed results. Even so, they show how much of the anticipated earnings total depends on the group of companies most closely associated with the market’s technology exposure.

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That backdrop leaves an important distinction between a strong individual report and confirmation of a broader earnings trend. SpaceX’s profit provided a positive signal, but it did not settle whether other companies would deliver equally persuasive results or outlooks. Waterer made the case for more sustained AI-sector momentum conditional on Meta and Tesla producing similarly strong earnings and guidance. For investors watching those forthcoming reports, the next test was whether SpaceX’s performance would be followed by comparable evidence elsewhere.

Trading outside the US also showed that the more positive overall mood coexisted with pronounced moves in individual shares. In Seoul, infrastructure company Elice’s share price rose nearly 30 percent after falling sharply on its trading debut on Tuesday. Paris shares were higher overall around midday, despite large movements among individual companies. Those contrasting performances underscored the limits of reading the global advance as a uniform response: company developments and local conditions remained important alongside the support provided by SpaceX’s earnings.

France offered a separate reminder of those pressures. Carrefour chief executive Alexandre Bompard said around 50 stores had been looted over the weekend, and the company expected the looting to reduce operating profit this year by 80 million to 200 million euros. Meanwhile, the yield on France’s benchmark 10-year government bond moved above five percent, its highest level since 2002. Investors were demanding greater compensation to hold French debt amid a budget standoff and protests, even as the broader Paris equity market advanced.

The next focus for investors was the evening’s earnings from Meta, Facebook’s parent, and Tesla. Mould identified those reports as the next gauge of market confidence, while Waterer said strong results and guidance could help give the AI sector more sustained momentum. SpaceX had supplied a substantial profit beat and rapid revenue growth; the question for the wider market was whether the next company updates would help sustain that confidence.