On Friday, June 12, 2026, Elon Musk’s rocket company SpaceX sold shares to the public for the first time, listing on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the ticker SPCX. It was the largest such debut — known as an initial public offering (IPO) — in history. An IPO is the moment a private company starts letting everyday investors buy a piece of it. SpaceX’s stock opened at $150 a share, rose as high as $176.52, and finished the day at $161.11 — a 19% jump over the $135 price the company first set. The sale raised about $75 billion and valued SpaceX at roughly $1.77 trillion. Speaking from the company’s Texas headquarters, Musk marveled that a business he started in a small warehouse was now the biggest stock-market debut ever.

The big debut closed out a quiet but hopeful week for the market. Stocks edged higher as investors watched for signs that the U.S.-Iran war may be winding down. President Donald Trump said he had called off planned strikes on Iran overnight and that the main points of a peace deal were essentially settled. Iranian state media said a draft agreement could be signed as soon as Sunday, including a U.S. promise to lift oil sanctions and an Iranian pledge to reopen the Strait of Hormuz — a key shipping lane for the world’s oil — within 30 days.

That matters for ordinary households, not just traders. When oil flows freely again, prices tend to fall, and that eventually shows up as cheaper gas at the pump. Oil prices dropped on the news.

Here is how the main scoreboards of the market finished. These indexes each track a basket of large U.S. companies, so when they rise, it usually means most stocks had a good day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which follows 30 big-name companies, rose 353.51 points, or 0.7%, to 51,202.26. The broader S&P 500 added 0.5% to 7,431.46, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 0.31% to 25,888.84. The Dow had closed Thursday at 50,848.75. The Russell 2000, which tracks smaller companies, also rose.

Market Movers

SpaceX was the day’s headline, and Wall Street was divided on whether its price will hold. Oppenheimer began covering the stock with a positive rating and a $190 target, and New Street Research set a $165 target. On the other side, Keith Snyder of CFRA Research rated it a sell with a $115 target, saying he thinks the stock is overpriced. A target is simply where an analyst expects the stock to trade over the next year — an educated guess, not a guarantee.

Adobe, which makes Photoshop and other creative software, fell about 7% even after a strong report. It earned $5.96 a share on $6.62 billion in revenue, beat forecasts, and raised its outlook for the year. Sometimes a stock falls anyway when investors expected even more.

Chipmakers had a good day. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Qualcomm, and Sandisk each rose about 5%.

Rocket Lab climbed 4.5% after announcing it will join the Nasdaq-100 on June 22.

The biggest tech names slipped as investors shifted money elsewhere. Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, and Oracle each fell around 2%.

Banks helped balance the day, with JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs both higher; Goldman rose 1.81%.

Among other household names, Sherwin-Williams gained 1.86% and Caterpillar added 1.31%, while Salesforce fell 2.35%, Travelers lost 1.98%, and IBM slipped 1.96%.

Public Storage jumped 7.13%, Playtika rose 5.43%, Virgin Galactic dropped 10%, DoubleVerify lost 4.2%, and Ollie’s Bargain Outlet fell 3.3%.

Commodities and Volatility

Oil fell as traders bet the Iran deal would bring more crude back to the market and ease prices for drivers. Gold, which people often buy as a safe place to park money in uncertain times, held steady as those fears cooled.

The Cboe Volatility Index (VIX) — nicknamed the market’s “fear gauge” because it rises when investors get nervous — sat near 19, down from higher levels earlier in the month.

Two things to watch over the weekend. The first is whether the United States and Iran sign their peace deal Sunday and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which would help keep gas prices down. The second is whether SpaceX can hold its first-day gains once big investment funds are required to start buying the stock. Monday will start to tell.

JBizNews Desk — New York

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