US futures rise as SpaceX and Super Micro Computer boost AI sentiment

US stock futures climbed on October 21, 2026, and the AI trade did most of the heavy lifting. Nasdaq futures rose approximately 0.5% after SpaceX and Super Micro Computer both delivered numbers that made AI skeptics briefly lower their eyebrows. SpaceX posts a profit, and AI is doing a lot of the work SpaceX reported its first profit as a public company. Third-quarter revenue came in at $14.58 billion, a 161% jump from the same period last year. Net income landed at $4.4 billion. A year earlier, the company was sitting on a $1.1 billion loss. SpaceX pulled in $7.6 billion from AI during the quarter, a more than ninefold increase year over year. More than half of the company’s quarterly sales now come from a business line that barely registered a year ago. The AI division also turned an operating profit of $431 million. SpaceX’s AI capital expenditures hit $16.4 billion in the third quarter, with expectations for that figure to keep rising. Capex ran at more than double the AI revenue it generated in the same quarter. Super Micro raises the bar Super Micro Computer added fuel with a preliminary outlook for the first quarter of fiscal 2027. The server maker raised its revenue forecas...