SpaceX credit risk gauge hits record high amid $40 billion fundraising talks

SpaceX has spent years making the impossible look routine. Bond traders, it turns out, are less easily impressed. The company’s five-year credit default swaps climbed to a record 197 basis points on October 7, 2026. The jump followed reports that SpaceX is negotiating a fundraising round of approximately $40 billion to buy Nvidia AI chips. What the bond market is saying Think of a credit default swap as an insurance policy on a company’s debt. If the borrower can’t pay, the policy pays out. The more investors pay for that protection, the more worried they are about repayment. SpaceX’s five-year CDS traded between 195 and 197 basis points on October 7. Both ends of that range mark record territory for the contract. To put that in plain terms: protecting $10 million of SpaceX debt for a year now costs roughly $197,000. That is the highest price the market has ever charged for this particular kind of peace of mind. The company’s cash bonds told a similar story. SpaceX’s 6.65% notes due in 2056 saw their spread widen by 12 basis points in secondary trading, reaching 238 basis points over the benchmark. That is a notable drift from where those bonds started. At issuance, the same notes ...