Investors worry a divided Washington could derail ‘Elon, Inc.’ Shares of Tesla and SpaceX were down by 11% and 8%, respectively, in recent action on Thursday, underscoring both broader concerns in the technology sector and worries about their business opportunities going forward in the aftermath of the 2026 U.S. midterm elections. Across the past two trading days, Tesla has erased $221 billion in market capitalization and SpaceX has lost $229 billion in value, according to Dow Jones Market Data. What's next for SpaceX as more shares enter the market and capex jumps Play video: What's next for SpaceX as more shares enter the market and capex jumps CEO Elon Musk is feeling the pain alongside the average investor.
According to Forbes, Musk’s net worth now stands at about $788.2 billion, down 9.3% on Thursday. Don’t Short Yourself offers weekly money tips to help you earn it, stack it and grow it. I would like to receive updates and special offers from Dow Jones and affiliates.
I can unsubscribe at any time. Garrett Nelson, an analyst at CFRA, told MarketWatch that the Democrats’ takeover of the U.S. House and Senate in the midterm elections is “compounding” fears around the massive artificial-intelligence spending plans of Tesla and other large technology companies.
Nelson added that concerns are particularly pronounced for companies doing business in states like Texas, where Democrats had major victories, and where SpaceX and Tesla are headquartered. Tesla operates a supercomputing cluster in Texas, though SpaceX’s data centers are based in Mississippi and Tennessee. Several newly elected Democrats, including Texas Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa, have expressed opposition to new data centers.
A few dozen ballot measures related to data centers were put before voters this week, according to Redbud Consulting. But so far, data-center advocates have won just a single measure, the firm said. Political opposition could incentivize SpaceX to move more quickly to put data centers in orbit, a goal key to the company’s future and valuation, according to KeyBanc analyst Mike Leshock.
Musk on Wednesday wrote that space-based data centers were “looking pretty appealing right now.” The tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 was off 5.7% in recent action on Thursday, while the PHLX Semiconductor Index fell 10.1%, on pace for its biggest decline in more than six years, according to Dow Jones Market Data. **See:**Bloom Energy’s stock is one of the S&P 500’s biggest losers amid fears of data-center delays Thursday’s stock pressure is especially pronounced for companies likely to be impacted by a slower data-center buildout in the U.S., according to Thomas Martin, a portfolio manager at Globalt Investments. He pointed to names like Dell Technologies and Seagate Technology , which were suffering big losses on Thursday. Nvidia shares also traded 8% lower on Thursday, while the semiconductor company Sandisk was on track to be the worst-performer in the S&P 500, according to FactSet.
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