Space Stocks Fall Tuesday: SpaceX Down 2%, Rocket Lab Down 3%, AST SpaceMobile Down 6%

Shares of five of the most-watched space names are trading lower in the final hour Tuesday, tracking a broad AI hardware selloff even as the wider Industrials sector holds up. SpaceX (NASDAQ:SPCX | SPCX Price Prediction) is down 2% to $143, Rocket Lab (NASDAQ:RKLB) is off 3% to $80, and AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) leads the group lower, near 6%.

Planet Labs (NYSE:PL) is down 4% to $23, and Intuitive Machines (NASDAQ:LUNR) is also trading lower into the close.

Let’s look into why space stocks fell Tuesday while the broader industrials group gained.

AI Hardware Selloff Hits Long-Duration Growth

Today’s trigger is a sharp rotation out of AI hardware. The iShares Semiconductor ETF is down about 5.4% today, while the iShares Expanded Tech-Software ETF is up 0.6%. Neoclouds, chipmakers and consumer electronics are all lower. Software and defensives are catching the bid.

Two macro items are amplifying the move. The Wall Street Journal reported that nine top tech companies now carry roughly $3 trillion of off-balance-sheet commitments tied mostly to AI, roughly triple their outstanding leases and long-term borrowings (the kind of buildout math we sized up in a free handbook on riding an AI mania and knowing when to step aside). Anthropic told investors its annualized revenue run rate hit $65 billion at the end of July, a huge number that still landed below whispered figures in the $80 billion range.

Meanwhile, the 30-year Treasury hit a 19-year high today, and the 10-year sits at 4.68%. Long duration, capital-hungry growth stocks are exactly the wrong profile for that setup. That’s bad news for space stocks with ambitions that often require future capital needs.

The Industrials Paradox

Here is the wrinkle a sector heat map hides. Most space companies are classified in Industrials, and Industrials are generally green today. The iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF is up about 0.3%, carried by defensive backlog-driven primes like RTX, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman.

Space names sit at the opposite end of that sector. They are pre-profit or thinly profitable, capital-intensive, and priced on cash flows far in the future. When yields spike and risk comes off, they trade with high-beta growth. That is exactly what is happening this afternoon.

Giving Back a Strong Month

Today’s selling also comes after a large run. Over the past month, Rocket Lab is up 21%, AST SpaceMobile is up 23%, Intuitive Machines is up 51%, Planet Labs is up 8.5%, and SpaceX is up 18%.

A strong earnings season has carried the group. Rocket Lab recorded $234.07 million in Q2 revenue, up 62% year over year, with backlog at a record $2.36 billion (see the company’s SEC filings). Intuitive Machines grew Q2 revenue over four times to $206.17M with backlog of $1.8B. AST SpaceMobile is the exception on the tape, still working through a $125.9 million loss on involuntary conversion related to the BB7 launch incident, which likely explains why it is leading the group lower.

What to Watch For the Rest of the Week

Watch whether the group finds a bid as software strength broadens, or accelerates lower if yields keep pushing higher into the bell. If semiconductor ETFs firm, expect these names to firm with it. If not, the risk-off tape has more room to run.

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